eayragt

Obviously the draft is nonsense - my bugbear being able to pick whole stables. I don't think a "random" lottery really works any better. So what should it be? The GMs and Triple H coming and and saying they're shaking the rosters up and announcing a huge trade? Not very exciting, but you can probably get a few matches out of it for a show as someone tries to win to stay / go, run an outsiders storyline on one of the brands for the newbies... it's not great, but the draft also isn't. Anyone got any better ideas?

I think he lost a match once so I can't take him seriously as a challenger ever again.

Let's be fair to Punk for a moment - he probably hadn't seen that footage, and in the heat of the moment he probably didn't remember exactly what happened. He didn't deny doing wrong, but left out some parts that he may look at the video and go "huh, didn't remember doing that".

Hey, Tony Khan could have feared for his life for a split second. I've feared for my life for a split second before on the road. Doesn't mean that at any point there was any risk of that, and doesn't necessarily justify using the language publicly (unless you want to justify a firing), but there's nothing wrong with him feeling that way for a brief moment. It's neither really here or there. Perry did wrong and was banished. Pink did wrong and was sacked. This we all knew last summer. Nothing's changed, nothing's gained apart from stirring up promotion diehards. Maybe that was the point, but the diehards are already diehards so, meh? Although imagine this wasn't wrestling, this was any other industry. You sack a worker for threatening you. Fine. The worker is interviewed about it and puts forward his side, which doesn't seem to be in dispute (or even claim that his sacking was unfair). Fine. You then circulate the video of the incident that got the worker fired. Er, what? Imagine your work place and someone gets fired, and then your boss sending round a video of the incident that got the person fired. It just shouldn't be done, it's extremely unprofessional. Wrestling have to acknowledge it due to storylines, and I have no issues with how it was dealt with at the time. But I still scratch my head at this. But we are talking about it. No publicity is bad publicity, eh?

Because there is little to gain from this outside a small trend. It doesn't advance The Young Bucks, or Perry, or Khan. It doesn't damage Punk anymore than when the incident happened. It doesn't stoke an AEW WWE war, as WWE refuse to be at war (Trips lazy comments were stupid, but he rightfully hasn't doubled down on them). I guess the hope is that eyes from last night stay on AEW, so we'll have to wait until next week's rating to see if that happend.

I just don't see how Cody "jobbing" to The Rock is a bad thing. It sets up a future match, he's still mega hot after becoming a champion. If Cody wins Night 1 he's still massively over, but people are meh about a future match with Rocky as it doesn't have the build. Sure, you may doubt he's the best as the thought is that someone could beat him but... that's sort of the point? If you've got a champion who you don't think can lose, why do you watch? I'm not interested in Jay Vs Priest as I know Priest will win, but I'll be interested if it's McIntyre Vs Priest at Clash the following month as I don't know who'll win that. A lot of other stuff mentioned over the last decade did indeed suck, but Kofi getting squashed is incomparable to an epic, tainted defeat in a part one match, which will lead to a future match.

Is it odd that my favourite bit was Roman taking out SHIELD Seth? 9 and a half years after the betrayal, what could have been an overbooked mess just made sense. A think a heel Seth is definitely on the cards, there's a couple of big money matches with Cody and Punk over the next 12 months there. Although with Gunter also joining the Main Event it does look a little heel heavy, which I guess is good for LA Knight. I do slightly worry for the Usos. They've shined in the Main Event scene with a great storyline, but I think it's time for them to move away from it. If they're not a tag team again in the next 2 years I'd be surprised.

Nonsense, Cody winning night 1 & 2 makes no sense at all from a storytelling point of view. Also, in your opinion if anyone interferes but not in the finish it's a clean win, what's the issue? Austin might not even touch Reigns while pummeling the Bloodline (although it's likely he will). Edit: Substitute Taker or Cena or Rollins for Austin. In your book Cody's just won clean, and had a ready made feud with Rock. Lovely.

It'll be a reaction like Punk got against Jeff Hardy. That led to a fantastic set of matches between the two, but I'm sure as soon as it happened someone on the internet was claiming that Hardy got buried...

I think you're confusing Cody's story with Roman's reign, the latter of which you despise, which is fine. However, this clouds your judgment so you make claims like "Cody has had his momentum killed", whereas Cody's momentum is super high right now. Was it marginally higher after the Rumble? Sure. But Cody Vs Roman has huge heat going into WrestleMania regardless, and if The Rock is at Mania (and it would be crazy for him not to be at this point) the last few weeks would have increased the intrigue in his appearance. It's certainly brought more eyes to the Mania build up. I feel it's too easy for some people to concentrate on one thing that they don't like (especially if it's a main storyline) and claim it's hugely damaging, but I can't see it in this case. Cody's momentum went from 10/10 to 8/10 last Friday, went back up to 9/10 the other night, and has plenty of time to go back up to 10/10 before Mania. Did Cody's momentum need to take this hit? Of course not, but he's not coming out of this any worse so no need to dwell on it, especially when it's bringing eyes to the product.

Who knows what they were planning, but they have brought eyes on Mania through massive social media engagement so they'll be happy as long as this equates to buys. If it does, expect future planned works on the same scale.

This decision isn't about the WWE Title, unfortunately. WWE wanted Cody Vs Reigns and Punk Vs Rollins as the two main events. It's an anniversary year, it stacks up, and there would have been a Brock match, and probably a Rock appearance. WWE would prefer Cody Vs Rollins and Rock vs Reigns rather than Priest / Drew Vs Rollins and Cody Vs Reigns (with a Rock appearance and no Brock). This also, in isolation makes sense. The issue, of course, is they've done a good build for Cody Vs Reigns II. In a way they're unlucky, as if Punk's injury was known about first all they needed to do was throw Rock in the Rumble, and although there would have been dissent it would have been far less. But Cody Vs Rollins / Rock Vs Reigns is a set of main events which will sell more. I get the feeling that they're not even sure how fit Rollins will be in April, so have ensured that he's against a vet that could work with him injured to still pull out a great match. I've gone through other scenarios in my head, and whatever I come up with no other scenario makes the World Heavyweight Title worthy of headlining Day 1 of WrestleMania. It shouldn't matter as WWE should trust Bailey / IYO, Rhea / Lynch, or Gunter / someone to be able to Main Event, but it's an anniversary year, and they're shooting higher. Personally, I don't mind it. The only thing I wanted to see out of Cody / Reigns II was a title change - I'm not sure if the match up and feud justified two WrestleMania main events in a row. Personally, I'd have Priest cash in his title shot while Rollins was injured to make it Priest Vs Cody at WrestleMania, adding Rollins if he is properly fit. Either Cody wins, or an injured Rollins costs him the match, setting up the two to feud to SummerSlam. A titleless Cody would go into Rumble 25 looking for the threepeat but just miss out, before winning at Elimination Chamber and winning at Mania 41. If Cody has the title Reigns wins the Rumble or (preferably) Elimination Chamber, and they meet for it at Mania. Of course, a lot could go wrong before then.

Yes, that's the one. Like the devil storyline that was hot when there was mystery, then in petered out. I feel this one going the same way, as I don't see any satisfying reveals. Which considering they've just pinned the champion is not good.

Just caught up and, it just doesn't make sense. Why not just take Joe out, win the titles, and leave it there? Two injured men going into the PPV to even out that disadvantage, if Joe's injury was fake you can reveal it then. And what was that match? I'm fine with MJF going down in a 2 Vs 1 with interference, but it was poorly executed, right up to the rope assisted pin which was actually hindering the henchman making the pin. Granted, double the match length and you might accidentally reveal a henchman's moveset, but you've booked yourself into a corner with that match, if it turns out lame that's your fault. I appreciate the Cole injury has derailed the storyline, but if you can't adapt with the stacked roster in AEW then something's wrong. At the moment I'm getting Aces and Spades vibes, which is not what anyone was looking for. I assume that Joe will cut a promo saying he's not in league with the devil, and he'll blame MJF for being distracted, leading to uncertainty as to where he stands going into the Main Event. Now, I would like to see the henchmen come out during that Main Event, and Joe obliterate them with chair shots. I'm still struggling to book it from there though. They can't look too weak, so the best I can do is after the initial shots, Joe drags one of them to the ring and unmasks them, and is so shocked that it allows MJF to roll him up for the victory. Who could be that shocking? Well, that's where I'm out, the best I could do was Jack Perry, and I don't think he fits the bill. Maybe Christopher Daniels? That would have more of an affect on Joe, but makes no sense in the devil storyline. The devils henchmen would then have to beat down both competitors to end the show to show some semblance of strength. Maybe they could claim the title as well, and get MJF to earn it back, while Joe stays in the picture as a beast solely looking out for himself.

Um, Logan Paul has just made a veteran like save on Rey. Admittedly, it may have been because Paul was in the wrong place, but for a rookie that was a great move.

Punk wasn't the one who called out a wrestler unscripted live at their biggest ever PPV. I know Punk's no angel, but Jungle Boy was massively at fault yesterday.

They're blowing the licensing budget tonight!!

Oh, okay. You don't know what being buried means, even though it's been explained to you. That explains a lot.

I have no problem with you complaining about Roman being champion. I do have a problem with you saying people are being buried, when you're not watching the product and have no idea if someone's being buried or not. You were wrong about Cody being buried. You've defended your stance without acknowledging that you were wrong about that particular comment which you got called out on. A simple "Yeah, I was wrong about Cody being buried, but I'm still not watching until Roman isn't champion any more" will perfectly suffice. Just try not to add moments about how stale the Bloodline storyline is when you're not actually watching it develop. Storylines are a lot different when you're watching to if you read a summary (go read a summary of your favourite TV show, and see how different that is to actually watching).

Cody is arguably WWE's number one face. Struggling with how that equates to being buried. Meanwhile Jey, essentially a charismatic tag wrestler, has had three world title shots. Also impressive. Doesn't sound like someone who's being buried at all. Even if he never wins a World Title he's been elevated. Buried means being beaten so badly / often that the crowd won't see you as a credible threat any more. There's no way Cody has been buried.

Bury 🤣. Brock? Nah. Sammy? Nah. Cody? Nah. Jey - we'll have to wait and see. Granted, there's a few from the last couple of years who have never made it back to the main event, but none of them should have beaten Roman. But everyone who's faced Roman for the title this year has been elevated by the Bloodline storyline.

400 Studios

I agree with Self, the fall of Roman will come after the fall of the Bloodline, which should take a few more months. Sure, I would have preferred Zayn to take the title, but that wasn't the route they wanted. However, imagine Roman being the champion and having a Money in the Bank match between Gunter, The Usos, Zayn, Owens, Logan Paul, Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. While The Usos are falling apart (again). I can easily count 5 different ways forward with 5 different winners from that match. And I'm sure it would be a doozy.

Hager was "over" the moment he joined Hager (comparatively - look back at the roster then, and there was plenty of promise, but Hager was still more well known to most people outside 7 or 8 workers). That was not because he was remembered as a WWE jobber - his gold belts in WWE played it part. Did he ever get more over? Slightly, but couldn't sustain it and was leapfrogged by many other workers.. Like his WWE career...

My first ever use of the Cornellverse was this iteration, and I remember booking The Lords of Pain in 20 minute match. I soon learnt that some things should be done, if you don't want two exhausted wrestlers struggling around the ring.