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Royal Rumble 2023 aka 30 years of pointing at sign as Mania main event booking


El-P

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WWE main event scene is basically early 97 ECW where you had multiple big favorites in Funk, Richards and Sandman all jostling to dethrone Raven going into Barely Legal. Right down to Roman face palming a defiant Sami like Raven did Stevie before they snapped. Funk wanted to win for Dory Sr and family legacy like Cody wants to win for Dusty and wrestling's other royal family. I mean WWE Twitter called the Sami chair shot "the chair shot heard around the world" people. Owens left limp in a crucifixion pose. Sami an honorary Uce like Lance Storm was honorary Triple Threat member not allowed to throw up 3 fingers. I have zero inside knowledge but I think I can tell who is steering this one. Maybe Sami gets involved in countering interference in Cody match like Dreamer with Funk/Raven.

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The way I see it, Sami's closest equivalent is Batista in 2005. He wasn't slotted for the Mania main event until a groundswell of organic crowd support pushed him there. However, the fans were mainly into him as an antagonist to a particular heel and he started to fade once that story played out. Cody's a lot closer to 2005 Cena in that his rise to the top isn't tied to a specific adversary. The problem is that Roman is both HHH and JBL in this scenario. If you can only give the rub to one, Cody is the safer choice.

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1 hour ago, Flyin' Brian said:

Then you’ve wasted Cody coming back and winning the Rumble. The best thing I can think of is to have Roman lose the WWE title at Elimination Chamber in the chamber match to someone like Rollins or Gunther thanks to Sami taking him out, then do Rollins/Gunther vs Cody for the WWE title on night one and Sami vs Reigns for the Universal Title on night 2.

You're not wasting it. You're feeding him to Roman in order to give him even more heat, so Sami's victory can feel even more satisfying. And you can run Cody's story later on, and not necessarily with Roman; his is one of those stories that it doesn't matter if he fails the first time, it'll add a redemption arc for later. Sami's momentum, on the other hand, feels much more like a "now or never" deal to me.

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I guess the nicest thing I can say about the Mountain Dew match was that by Wyatt gimmick match standards, it wasn't offensively bad. It was dumb and pointless, though. He also looked bad. Slow and out of shape, looked like he fucked up an ankle on the steps as well. This Captain Howdy shit is just...who is this for? With the Broken Hardy stuff, that was intentionally campy and played up the so bad its good aspect, but all of Wyatt's stuff is always taken so seriously and it's just so bad. 

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Cody's story is all about winning the titles (well, one of them at least). Sami's story absolutely needs a satisfying pay off but it isn't really about titles. It's about remembering where he comes from, standing up for his old pal and getting revenge on Reigns.

He and KO topple the Usos on Night One and he/they interfere on Night Two to help even the odds for Cody against Reigns. That should do it.

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The Usos honestly feel closer to Sami than to Reigns at this point. Sami facing the Usos as currently constituted just feels so wrong as a denouement of the story. Plus I’m kinda tired of the schizophrenia of the forever tag champs being so skilled in matches yet so easily dispatched when acting as Roman’s goons.

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A few thoughts I'm not sure I saw yet...

- One of the best Rumbles in forever. This felt very much like a "Triple H" Rumble in the sense that it didn't feel particularly overbooked, maybe a bit "hands off" even compared to some of the Rumbles in recent memory that relied so much on comedy spots, nostalgia surprises, and stunts. It felt like a "let the wrestlers wrestle" approach. And, hey, when you let two absolute beasts like Sheamus and Gunther serve as your bedrock, that approach can absolutely work. Extra points for treating Karrion Kross like the jobber he is. 

- I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see Santos Escobar around much longer. He looked completely lost and awkward and I think he botched every spot/sequence he was involved in. Just an awful showing for the guy. 

- How long has this "Is she possessed/is she not possessed?" storyline with Alexa Bliss been going on now. Good god. I don't watch the TV shows regularly, but I watch the PLEs and I could've sworn that they did some this same nonsense at Survivor Series (?). That was 2 months ago. Just fucking reunite her with Bray or don't. Whatever intrigue this story was supposed to add to this feud was clearly non-existent because this match was completely cold and even the announcers seemed uninterested.

- The Mountain Dew Black Light match was awful. The best thing about it was its brevity. People seem to like LA Knight but I didn't see anything in this match that leads me to believe he's anything special (and the few clips I've seen of the build to this match didn't blow me away either).

- The Rhea Ripley face turn that I ranted about earlier this week has begun. The Alamadome seemed to be cheering to my ears, even if it was only a vocal minority. Right now, she's the villain we love to hate...but the audience cheers ass-kickers who say they're going to do something and then do it. Ripley outlasted 29 other women, has been the MVP of Judgment Day for months now, devirginized Dom Mysterio, and legitimately climbed the ranks over the years. Nobody's going to boo that, especially with Belair coming off some pretty lackluster, hamster wheel-ish feuds with Alexa Bliss and Bayley lately. Plus, as the Women's Battle Royal showed us, there really is no one else to get behind. The crowd might've rallied behind Raquel if she'd been in the final 2-3, but Liv's moment has passed and Asuka, while always awesome, didn't come into the match with nearly enough momentum to be a viable winner.

- Speaking of Rhea, I watched some of the post-show conference. It is weird. The wrestlers answer questions in semi-kayfabe, but don't necessarily stay in character. Bray Wyatt, for example, wasn't in-character at all. Rhea was kinda half-and-half as she spoke about partying with the Judgment Day boys and how rowdy they can get (if you believe the stories about Damian Priest, I'm just hoping they use protection), but was also complimentary to Liv Morgan in a way that you wouldn't think a heel would be. Then there was Cody Rhodes who was super duper charming. Listening to Cody control the media room makes it 100% clear why the WWE would want him to be their top brand ambassador as he came across as both incredibly polished and confident, but also affable and upbeat and, well, natural in that role. There weren't any bombshells dropped or anything, but it was mildly interesting to see.

 

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32 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

He's in an universe of his own. Fiend was super over until Wyatt-isms started kicking in. People like the idea of Bray Wyatt. They do not like seeing it put in practice.

I don't think that's fair at all. The Field was super over until a) the HIAC debacle and b) dropping the belt to Goldberg in under 3 minutes in Saudi Arabia.

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