The Official WWE / NXT Discussion Thread *May Contain Spoilers*

[Jaysin]

3 hours ago, MightyDavidson said:

Why is Riddle suspended?

Cocaine

[Antonin]

23 hours ago, Jaysin said:

Cocaine

That's unfortunate. I hope he gets straightened out and can soon resume his career.

[Jaysin]

1 hour ago, Antonin said:

That's unfortunate. I hope he gets straightened out and can soon resume his career.

It really is. I have known a lot of addicts and I hope that this is a wakeup call so he doesn't spiral out like so many people have done. 

 

[St. Templar]

On 3/22/2023 at 6:39 PM, Jaysin said:

It really is. I have known a lot of addicts and I hope that this is a wakeup call so he doesn't spiral out like so many people have done. 

 

Word is he was sent to rehab, so hopefully that's something he wanted.

St.T

 

[Jaysin]

If you take a shot everytime someone says "this industry" or "this division", you'd be pretty drunk.

I don't know why it irritates me, but it grinds my gears so bad when people use those in promos. It's so "try hard" and cringy to me. Meh

[Antonin]

15 hours ago, Jaysin said:

If you take a shot everytime someone says "this industry" or "this division", you'd be pretty drunk.

I don't know why it irritates me, but it grinds my gears so bad when people use those in promos. It's so "try hard" and cringy to me. Meh

 You forgot "this business." For me, though, "this industry" is the worst. 😀

Cody Rhodes has been looking pretty good in interviews. I think he will make a great "universal champion." 

Edited March 28, 2023 by Antonin

[St. Templar]

20 hours ago, Jaysin said:

If you take a shot everytime someone says "this industry" or "this division", you'd be pretty drunk.

I don't know why it irritates me, but it grinds my gears so bad when people use those in promos. It's so "try hard" and cringy to me. Meh

I'm old-school enough to still prefer "our sport", personally.

St.T

 

[Mootinie]

Rey Mysterio's Hall of Fame speech was lovely. Konnan is the kind of hype man and mentor I need in my life.

[Jaysin]

My friends and I watched roughly 11 hours worth of wrestling today and it was incredibly enjoyable despite the power being out and us having to huddle around a phone. 

These wind storms are getting outrageous. 

Wrestlemania itself felt very satisfying as a whole show. Which makes me nervous for Night Two. Can they really give us two nights of great pro wrestling and mostly quality sports entertainment?

[Mootinie]

Charlotte is superb is on, she's just isn't on a lot of the time. That match with Ripley ruled.

The main event was pretty great too and they finished the story in absolutely the right way. Kevin Owens being a two-time WrestleMania main eventer is lovely.

I still can't past the ads and the overall rampant commercialism of their product though. Having an ad after a video package for the main event and stuff like that just took me out the moment. I hope this is a phase but I doubt it is.

[The Blonde Bomber]

So we can’t have blood cause that’s ‘self mutilation’ but they can hit each other with kendo sticks, chairs, ladders, etc. Guys like Gunther and Sheamus can scarred their chests with the hands. But blood is just too much… 😕

[The Blonde Bomber]

Roman is sooo good at kicking out!!!

[guyver3]

……..who the F are you saving Roman for if not this 

[overthetop2]

It is not possible to make a worse booking decision in wrestling than the WWE made tonight.  Not even putting your world title on The Minor Annoyance comes close.

A Roman Reigns heel turn did not change who Roman Reigns was.  He's still the same old boring chump as always, and the tribal chief gimmick just smoothed things over for a while.  But part of being a villain is that you have to lose and lose big, yet WWE insists on having their main bad guy win 3 Wrestlemania main events in a row when the bad guy is supposed to lose there.  Not to mention all of the other times where it was "time" for Roman to give back and drop the title.  How is it that the 3rd best member of the Shield is the one constantly being pushed down our throats?

AEW, for all it's missteps and having way too many title belts, are trying to make all of their storylines and wrestlers matter.  Yet WWE seems to think that only one wrestler matters and as long as people are still tuning in, everyone else can get stuffed.  I wish nothing more than for this Wrestlemania moment to go on to become WWE's fingerpoke of doom and turn the tide's in favour of alternatives.  Because they clearly cannot book good wrestling anymore.

[Sisma]

2 hours ago, guyver3 said:

……..who the F are you saving Roman for if not this 

I actually agree with their decision to not have Roman lose yet, but I believe Cody will eventually beat him. I was thinking, what's next? What's next for Cody? What's next for Roman? Where do they go from here? Look, Cody came back and defeated Rollins. He is undefeated and looks destined to ''finish the story'', as he put it, at Wrestlemania.

The way I look at it, it is tremendous pressure on Cody to finally win the big one and do it on the grandest stage of them all, but he hasn't ever been is this situation, as Roman pointed out. He, on the other hand (whether we like it or not), is THE main event. He headlines Wrestlemania and defeats everyone in his path (with help from the family).

So, I asked myself; Cody comes back and wins on his very first try? Against all odds? That's not happening. Where does Cody go from there? He did it, he beat the invincible guy, so who is a serious challenger now?  I'm not saying I know where they are going with this, I obviously have no idea. I Maybe he wins at Backlash? Maybe they are waiting all the way to Summerslam?

Either way, I think we are going to find out soon.

[Mootinie]

What was next for Cody if he won the belt? I don't think him defending against Solo or Jey or Jimmy is really the ticket. Seth Rollins has been done and he probably shouldn't be losing again to Cody again. Lashley, maybe? I reckon they might do Roman vs. Lashley as a make good for Bobby since he was left off WrestleMania and really did deserve a spot on that show.

I think they're looking at Money In The Bank in July. It's in London, Gunther will probably challenge there, it makes sense given that he came into WWE through NXT UK and really made his name over here. They probably think Reigns surpassing 1,000 days and defending against Gunther is better creative than doing Cody vs. Gunther.

They'll probably then do Reigns vs. Orton at Summerslam since they originally wanted to that last year until Randy got injured.

The thing is too, business is great for them right now. There's not much argument for a significant shift in promotion. They're still pretty hot, it's still a strong ticket, I don't see a reason for drastically changing it.

[Mammoth]

I think the anger is less towards Cody losing and more towards Roman winning. The Bloodline storyline has been one of the best storylines in wrestling history and has certainly been at the forefront of WWE television, but this seemed like its natural conclusion as its next progression would obviously be the fallout of them all losing their respective titles - and the "power" of Roman Reigns being questioned by his "family".

I suppose they could still go down that route with Roman Reigns questioning The Usos after he survived and they didn't, but I think the better story was to see Roman finally fall. It'll be interesting if they see Jey Uso as a potential star, and see him as the one to de-throne Roman. However, that feels like a 'Mania moment in and of itself and judging by the reaction of people on social media and such like, I don't think they want to see another year of this which is why they should have just pulled the trigger last night. 

As has already been said, Cody would have had a great feel good moment but as he wouldn't/shouldn't have been part of the Bloodline implosion, he didn't really have anywhere to go after 'Mania unless they have a secret up their sleeve like, say, a Jay White debuting. If that was the case, then it really is a big ol' mess of booking.

I can see this being a moment that modifications are built around in the future with people wanting to fix this mistake. 😆

[overthetop2]

Imagine if Batista lost to Triple H at Wrestlemania 21 and people were like "oh no it's fine because Ric Flair interfered and Batista will just win at Backlash..."

[Matt_Black]

The natural conclusion of the story should have been Sami beating Roman. Obviously we didn't get that. As a consolation prize for becoming the most over babyface the company has had in years, Sami gets the title that's been proudly held by such competitors as... *checks notes* Heidenreich and The Spirit Squad.

Another thing, if you're going to have Snoop Dogg on both nights of your event, why wouldn't you advertise that ahead of time?!? That would definitely get more eyes on the product than Omos vs. Lesnar.

[Matt_Black]

4 minutes ago, overthetop2 said:

Imagine if Batista lost to Triple H at Wrestlemania 21 and people were like "oh no it's fine because Ric Flair interfered and Batista will just win at Backlash..."

Now, I can KIND OF rationalize things if that is the plan. The Rock lost to Triple H at Wrestlemania 16, and then won at Backlash, and Backlash did huge buyrate numbers that year (admittedly in part because of a returning Stone Cold).

[aXminster]

All bad booking aside, it's been made official that Endeavor has bought WWE. Never thought that I would see the day, specially with Vince still around.

[overthetop2]

6 minutes ago, Matt_Black said:

Now, I can KIND OF rationalize things if that is the plan. The Rock lost to Triple H at Wrestlemania 16, and then won at Backlash, and Backlash did huge buyrate numbers that year (admittedly in part because of a returning Stone Cold).

The Rock was able to bounce back from losing at Wrestlemania because he was already a multi-time world champion and established as a big deal.  Batista would not have recovered.  Nor would John Cena had he lost to JBL.  Cody Rhodes won't recover from this, even if he wins the title a la Booker T sometime later in his career it just won't have the same effect.

[Antonin]

I didn't watch Wrestlemania. I'm surprised, though, to hear that Cody lost. Hasn't the Roman Reigns/Bloodline story line gone on for some time? I thought I read somewhere that Roman wants to step back and take a break from everything.

My first thought when I heard UFC and WWE are now going to be under one corporate roof was that now they are both going to move most of their content to "streaming" and make people pay for it. Bye bye Monday Night Raw!

 

[Matt_Black]

Step back? Roman only shows up like once every two weeks as it is!

[Self]

Roman Reigns loses after the Bloodline is destroyed. Narratively, that is Cody's next goal. Or maybe Sami's. They exposed some weakness in the Bloodline, but didn't remove the actual problem (lots of interference) which has been Roman's ultimate weapon. 

Jimmy or Jey needs to turn (as a twin, I'm always going to want to see twins eventually split off and do their own thing) Solo needs to be put on the shelf. Get a cage in there. Roman is alone, and afraid, and then Heyman turns tail at the end of the match. Helluva Kick. 1. 2. 3. That's how I'd book it.