WWE TV 3/25-3/31 The Cody Crybabies ride at dawn

[sek69]

The Mania build is obviously getting all the hype but Stand and Deliver is looking pretty solid as well. Trick vs Melo, Lyra vs Roxxane, and the build for the tag title match have all been very good. Dragunov vs Tony isn't doing it for me just because i don't buy Tony as an actual threat, but Dragunov never disappoints so I'm expecting the match will bang.

[sek69]

Having videos of main roster guys putting over Trick vs Melo as a huge deal makes this feel even bigger than most NXT main events.

[Jmare007]

3 hours ago, strobogo said:

Somewhat :beli: that Rock is calling himself The Final Boss when I'm quite sure that's what Meiko Satamura was called her entire NXT/UK run. 

You trying to use Coli emojis here never stops being funny

And I have no clue why Rock didn't go with "High Chief" like his grandpa. It would add much more to the coming friction and feud with Reigns.

[Alucard]

4 hours ago, strobogo said:

Somewhat :beli: that Rock is calling himself The Final Boss when I'm quite sure that's what Meiko Satamura was called her entire NXT/UK run. 

Serena Deeb also mentioned in an interview that she used it on Collision last month and then Rock started using it a couple weeks later

[El-P]

Final Boss is a term that you just see more and more in very different fields now, as video game culture has gotten more and more mainstream.

And Rocky is indeed the final boss in WWE today. I wonder how much of the current booking on top is Levesque (who indeed was never exactly known to be a great babyface maker in his days....) and how much is directly coming from the Rock when it comes to him and Cody.

[fxnj]

10 hours ago, DMJ said:

Not to yuck anyone's yum because I'm a fan of the storyline but I just wanted to note...

The Rock is being named on commentary as the literal boss, with more backstage power than even Triple H, and I think that element is kinda still catnip to some of us, even if we don't want to admit it.

I  bring this up because I haven't really seen anyone mention that what we're getting is actually not all that different from the same ol' Authority Angle storyline that the company has leaned on heavily for the past 25+ years.

What I think is making it work better than every other derivation since the original Austin/McMahon saga is that:

(a) The Rock is much more physically imposing and has much more in-ring credibility than Vince McMahon did as Austin's rival, which is why Roman being the Corporate Surrogate is kind of unnecessary. At the same time, this alteration - where Roman's status as being the chosen "Corporate Champion" is not guaranteed because The Rock views himself as the true Final Boss in a way that the non-wrestler Vince could never be - of the "traditional" Boss vs. Held Down Employee narrative actually makes for a more intriguing storyline. Though it is still not a wholly original one because...

(b) 10 years ago, a similar dynamic was playing out with then-Authority Figure Triple H and his surrogate, Randy Orton, against Held Down Employee #2 (Daniel Bryan). In that story, Triple H inserted himself into the fray when his own greed for the Championship and disappointment in his "Corporate Champion" Randy Orton failing to stop Bryan's rise boiled over. The Triple H/Orton tension built over time, just like The Rock and Roman's is now. But, again, The Rock and Roman - and arguably Cody Rhodes - have made this a much, much better story because, frankly, they're far better characters with more charisma and better sports-entertainment chops than Triple H and Orton were ever capable of. I'm a huge Bryan fan too, but at this point, Cody has also proven to be the true heir to Cena in a way that Bryan, as much as I love him, was really never going to be. 

Plus, and this goes without saying, The Bloodline saga of the previous 2+ years has given this current storyline a context and background that set the stage in a way the WWE were never able to manufacture before. I mean, as good as Bryan's rise was in 2013, tagging with Kane and wrestling gauntlet matches just doesn't compare to the stage that has been set here. If the Vince/Austin storyline was the organic result of the months leading up to the Montreal Screwjob and the creation of the Mr. McMahon character in late 97', the current Rock storyline feels very much like it could really only have existed after Roman Reign's historic Head of the Table run, Cody Rhodes managing to maintain his top babyface status after a controversial loss at last year's Mania main event, and the non-kayfabe appointment of Dwayne Johnson onto the TKO Board of Directors.


TLDR - The Rock/Cody storyline is hitting lots of familiar notes, but it doesn't matter: the song slaps and it is being played by a crack band.

I don't agree that the authority angle has been played up in the same way as Austin/McMahon or Bryan/Triple H. It was made clear from when Triple H made announced Roman/Cody as the official main event that Rock couldn't just use his executive powers to do whatever he wants. It's possible that they're leaving the door open to some kind of power struggle later, but it's not really been explored yet. Rock's actions have been driven by his star power and ego with abuse of executive privileges not really being something he's resorted to. In announcing the tag it wasn't framed as "I'm the boss and you need to do this" but "here's an offer for you." 

[KawadaSmile]

11 hours ago, sek69 said:

Dragunov vs Tony isn't doing it for me just because i don't buy Tony as an actual threat,

Tony seems to be a bit hindered by the gimmick in this regard. He's charismatic and very stereotypical, but at the same time he's a big dude with nasty suplexes and a legit wrestling background.

[strobogo]

17 hours ago, Jmare007 said:

You trying to use Coli emojis here never stops being funny

And I have no clue why Rock didn't go with "High Chief" like his grandpa. It would add much more to the coming friction and feud with Reigns.

They should be default on every forum and platform on the internet :pacspit: 

[C.S.]

19 hours ago, Jmare007 said:

And I have no clue why Rock didn't go with "High Chief" like his grandpa. It would add much more to the coming friction and feud with Reigns.

Especially when Rock is legitimately the High Chief now.

I always expected the feud to be marketed as Tribal Chief vs. High Chief, with Rock saying something like, "You may be the Tribal Chief, but I'm the High Chief, bitch!"

[sek69]

15 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Especially when Rock is legitimately the High Chief now.

I always expected the feud to be marketed as Tribal Chief vs. High Chief, with Rock saying something like, "You may be the Tribal Chief, but I'm the High Chief, bitch!"

I assume that's going to be the direction after Mania.

[RazorBladeKiss]

Curious to see if Meek Mill actually is on WrestleMania now that the P Diddy lawsuits have named him (as Redacted but with enough context to know that it's him). 

[El-P]

Damn, they're out of luck with lawsuits and rapists. I have no doubt Gable Stevenson will end up on the roster anyway at some point, so there. I guess the point is "Vince is gone, izoké".

I just realized I haven't watched a second of Mania since the beginning of the second night of Mania three years ago. Strictly for significance purpose and overall quality, I probably should watch this one though (through Extremely Legal Means ofc).

[Jmare007]

6 hours ago, El-P said:

Damn, they're out of luck with lawsuits and rapists.

That shouldn't have made me laugh as hard as it did, lmao.

[RazorBladeKiss]

I was a little hasty. Meek Mill isn't accused of rape at this time. He just is a Diddy associate who allegedly engaged in acts with him. With all the stuff still coming out, I don't know why WWE would want to risk it. 

[El-P]

That makes him Laurinaitis. Not exactly much better.

[KawadaSmile]

Wade Barrett also respectfully looking at Jade

[KawadaSmile]

Rey and Dragon Lee vs Dom and Santos Escobar. At Wrestlemania.

Holy SHIT

[sek69]

3 hours ago, KawadaSmile said:

Rey and Dragon Lee vs Dom and Santos Escobar. At Wrestlemania.

Holy SHIT

That was my exact reaction as well, god damn

[sek69]

Also are we sure AJ didn't eat Brock Lesnar? Jesus he's massive now.

[sek69]

Bianca/Jade/Naomi vs Damage Control is gonna slap hard

[KawadaSmile]

SmackDown was some excellent stuff. Essentially everything has been built well and has interest from the fans. They devoted almost all of their segments to the feuds and programa down the card and it paid off.

[The Thread Killer]

Hey @KawadaSmile did you (or anybody else I guess) see the A&E Biography Special on Roman Reigns that aired tonight?

I thought it was pretty good. It was produced and directed by Paul Heyman, and I found it a bit weird that part of the show was pretty much sticking to “Kayfabe” if such a thing is even possible anymore. Parts of it were definitely done in character.

But it was still really good, especially if you are a Roman Reigns fan, which is why I couldn’t help but think of Good Bubba KawadaSmile while I watched it.

[Coffey]

Where's all the discourse over the Ariel/Punk interview? Should probably be its own thread... and I don't know if it belongs in AEW because he was there or in WWE because he is there. But man, ton of great quotes in that thing. It's blowing up on social media. Seemingly a lot of people against Punk & pro-AEW but what else is new?

[KawadaSmile]

21 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

Hey @KawadaSmile did you (or anybody else I guess) see the A&E Biography Special on Roman Reigns that aired tonight?

I thought it was pretty good. It was produced and directed by Paul Heyman, and I found it a bit weird that part of the show was pretty much sticking to “Kayfabe” if such a thing is even possible anymore. Parts of it were definitely done in character.

But it was still really good, especially if you are a Roman Reigns fan, which is why I couldn’t help but think of Good Bubba KawadaSmile while I watched it.

Haven't seen it yet, buuuut it might confirm what we all suspected: Roman Reigns is the Big Dog of the World Wrestling Federation

3 hours ago, Coffey said:

Where's all the discourse over the Ariel/Punk interview? Should probably be its own thread... and I don't know if it belongs in AEW because he was there or in WWE because he is there. But man, ton of great quotes in that thing. It's blowing up on social media. Seemingly a lot of people against Punk & pro-AEW but what else is new?

So many quotes there. Holy shit.

[strobogo]

4 hours ago, Coffey said:

Where's all the discourse over the Ariel/Punk interview? Should probably be its own thread... and I don't know if it belongs in AEW because he was there or in WWE because he is there. But man, ton of great quotes in that thing. It's blowing up on social media. Seemingly a lot of people against Punk & pro-AEW but what else is new?

Whole thing seems needlessly petty, but keep in mind Punk spent a decade talking that same shit about WWE before re-securing the bag, and now his whole AEW run feels like he was just trying to get big money to get back into ring shape (which lol, that lasted so long) to get a bigger WWE deal (which lol, also lasted so long). Punk is a multi multi millionaire who lives in the same building as fucking Oprah, the idea of him talking shit about AEW crowd sizes and guaranteed contracts ruining the biz is even pre Kevin Nash shoots type bullshit. Punk never would have signed with AEW without a guaranteed contract, never would have gone back to WWE without the same thing. Dude is probably making more than 90% of the roster to be injured and talk shit and even if healthy, would be doing minimal dates. 

Every line of the interview makes him seem like more of an asshole than long term indie fans know him to be, but it is all completely hollow because he said the same shit about WWE for years and literally sat in the ring crying when he joined AEW because he left pro wrestling when he signed with WWE, and was finally back. Dude is a total fraud when it comes to anything but getting that paper.