Mar 10, 2023 16:14:46 GMT RT said:

Mar 9, 2023 21:01:23 GMT Emperor said:

Do you care about the Bloodline storyline at all?

Absolutely. It’s been amazing. But they booked the perfect ending at EC and blew it.

As far as I can remember the only thing nice I’ve said about Cody is that I’m glad he found his place and is getting the reactions he wanted. Also, my son likes him so that is fun for me to experience.

Other than that I’ve just been keeping my mouth shut. I think the whole thing is stupid and doesn’t make sense. Cody missed too much time in the ring to look like an actual threat to Roman and the guy that should have known his every weakness and had the power of his hometown behind him should have won. But the WWE only gets long-term booking right like once every 5 years so whatever. I’m over it.

I would have been happy with Sami winning but what would that have left The Usos & KO?

I totally get where you're coming from RT, and I understand why you're bummed out, but I respectfully disagree. Allow me to expand on Ed's point.

You talk about long-term storytelling - this story goes back much further than Sami Zayn. Roman Reigns became the Tribal Chief at the expense of The Usos, specifically Jey Uso. He forced Jey to submit by choking out his twin Jimmy in a HIAC match. Since then he's bullied, abused and gaslighted Jey to keep him his by side. Jimmy seems up for it, but Jey is only there because he has to be, and because Jimmy is there. Deep down, he wants nothing more than to escape that situation. Sami knows this.

Sami Zayn brought new life into the Bloodline arc, which was admittedly getting stale at the time, and he is doing a brilliant job. While it would be a great moment for Sami Zayn to dethrone Roman Reigns in Montreal, a monumental moment, it is a short-term decision, a fan service moment, that doesn't do justice to the story they started telling in 2020.

It started with Reigns and Jey Uso, and it should end with those two. The Cody factor throws a spanner in the works. Sure, Cody will defeat Roman Reigns, but he's an outsider who has no involvement with the Bloodline, he just wants the championship. He beats Reigns and gets the hell out of there. That will end Roman's championship reign, but not the Bloodline story. The real perfect ending is Jey Uso beating Roman Reigns, with some or all of the Bloodline by his side.

How they get there, I don't know, but in my opinion they've told this story perfectly and I have every faith they will see it through to a brilliant conclusion. It won't be just a triumph for Jey Uso either, it will be a triumph for Sami Zayn, who was unquestionably and loyally behind Jey Uso 100% of the time, empathised with the mental torture he's been going through at the hands of his abuser, always seeing the good in Jey no matter how badly Jey treated him.

Mar 10, 2023 20:28:09 GMT Ed said:

Mar 10, 2023 16:14:46 GMT RT said:

Absolutely. It’s been amazing. But they booked the perfect ending at EC and blew it.

As far as I can remember the only thing nice I’ve said about Cody is that I’m glad he found his place and is getting the reactions he wanted. Also, my son likes him so that is fun for me to experience.

Other than that I’ve just been keeping my mouth shut. I think the whole thing is stupid and doesn’t make sense. Cody missed too much time in the ring to look like an actual threat to Roman and the guy that should have known his every weakness and had the power of his hometown behind him should have won. But the WWE only gets long-term booking right like once every 5 years so whatever. I’m over it.

I would have been happy with Sami winning but what would that have left The Usos & KO?

They can celebrate in catering. KO and Sami could've done their own WMXX.

I can only imagine over the next 3 weeks they continue to build to KO's alignment with Sami ( which will be a great moment in itself ) and they will announce The Usos defending the titles at Wrestlemania against KO/Sami..

The match itself will see the The Usos fall apart through miscommunication and lose the titles, and the blame is put on Jey. Bullied and humiliated by Roman after the match, Jey goes rouge during the main event, as KO/Sami neutralise Jimmy & Solo, Jey is the deciding factor, but doesn't necessarily do anything, he just simply walks out on Reigns leaving he and Cody 1 on 1. With Reigns isolated, Cody picks up the win and Reigns moves onto wanting to murder his cousin. Then at Backlash Jey gets his moment in the sun when he finally defeats Roman and is acknowledged by his brothers closing out 2 or 3 years of storyline.

Mar 10, 2023 21:46:19 GMT NATH45 said:

I can only imagine over the next 3 weeks they continue to build to KO's alignment with Sami ( which will be a great moment in itself ) and they will announce The Usos defending the titles at Wrestlemania against KO/Sami..

The match itself will see the The Usos fall apart through miscommunication and lose the titles, and the blame is put on Jey. Bullied and humiliated by Roman after the match, Jey goes rouge during the main event, as KO/Sami neutralise Jimmy & Solo, Jey is the deciding factor, but doesn't necessarily do anything, he just simply walks out on Reigns leaving he and Cody 1 on 1. With Reigns isolated, Cody picks up the win and Reigns moves onto wanting to murder his cousin. Then at Backlash Jey gets his moment in the sun when he finally defeats Roman and is acknowledged by his brothers closing out 2 or 3 years of storyline.

Just take my money already.

If RR loses, which I believe he will, it will be due to his arrogance & hubris. TTC has nearly impossible expectations for his family. Nothing is good enough for Roman. That will leave him alone on the island of relevancy.

Reports are pretty deep cuts are coming after WM goes lean for the sale. Likely to effects all parts of the company from corporate, to production, to talent.

Crazy rumor. Johnny Manynames says Paul rehearses his matches for like a month with HBK. Which would explain how he got so good, so fast. Book the entire match out, then have him just memorize all of his spots. And if this is true, first, that is real fucking dedication. And second, Rollins likes to plan out his matches spot for spot, so could get a great match from them.

Give me Bobby vs LA Knight.

I’d like to see LAKnight be denied a spot on the show only to show up and get the rub from a legend. Something like IDK.. Hulk Hogan maybe? Put them on the stick opposite of one another. Then have someone make the save when Knight attacks Hogan. It doesn’t have to be a match.

Mar 14, 2023 2:10:27 GMT jTjohncenaGOAT said:

I’d like to see LAKnight be denied a spot on the show only to show up and get the rub from a legend. Something like IDK.. Hulk Hogan maybe? Put them on the stick opposite of one another. Then have someone make the save when Knight attacks Hogan. It doesn’t have to be a match.

Wrestlemania Goes Hollywood...Hulk Hogan.

Moved the Bray Wyatt chit chat to its own thread since it sounds like this will be an ongoing discussion as rumours continue to swirl.

As for WM39, who do you want to see THE ALMIGHTY face now?

Bobby vs LA Knight seems like it could be a thing but I like jTjohncenaGOAT's idea of LA Knight being denied a match only to get confronted by a legend. He would be perfect for something like that.

If they can't figure out anything to do with Lashley, then he should win the ATGBR in dominant fashion. It's a throwaway match and hasn't meant anything since Cesaro tossed Big Show out of the ring in the first one. Bring back some credibility to the match and have him just destroy everyone.

Is there an ATGBR? Thought they cancelled it this year.

For Lashley, they can set up a post WM feud by having him just demolish someone after a match. He does not need a full match.

Mar 14, 2023 2:21:12 GMT c said:

Is there an ATGBR? Thought they cancelled it this year.

For Lashley, they can set up a post WM feud by having him just demolish someone after a match. He does not need a full match.

I haven't heard and just assumed it was a thing.

In that case, is there a MITB ladder match happening? Any other big clusterfucky matches? Put him in that and give him the win.

If I was booking, I’d just throw Lashley in with Cody and Roman to get both belts split and off Reigns in a WM 2000 style three-way.

I know that won’t happen, but that’s what I’d do!

I'll start off by saying that I don't religiously watch wrestling anymore. I still watch the monthly PPVs but for the RAW, NXT and SmackDown I only read the results and fast-forward to the segments I want to see or have heard are good, I don't watch the matches on weekly TV. But I agree, I feel like this WrestleMania doesn't feel as special as it should. The card, for the most part, wouldn't look particularly out of place on another PPV. Again, maybe some of it is lost on me because I'm not as heavily invested as I otherwise would be.

I think WWE have done a fantastic job with Roman Reigns and The Bloodline, the whole thing with Sami Zayn had people I know interested and they haven't watched/kept track of wrestling for years. I don't think the angle or payoff gets hotter than it did at Elimination Chamber. Do I think WWE should've changed track to put the title on Sami? Probably not, but by circumstance, I don't think Cody's inevitable win will be as huge. I like Cody, but the match itself doesn't do a lot for me. The segments have been stellar though and he will undoubtedly deserve the victory. 

I also think the card will be *very* strong match quality wise. I haven't cared for the Edge/Finn feud and it doesn't excite me, but I've no doubt they'll deliver. Same with Bianca/Asuka and Charlotte/Rhea... the matches will be good, but it just seems thrown together. Asuka is popular but her character hasn't really changed much and I'm not clamouring to see them together. Seth/Logan Paul will be very good, but again, I don't care for Logan Paul. I also think Austin Theory/Cena will be an okay match also, but I'm not a huge fan of Theory. I am happy for Trish/Lita to have their moment and also Dakota Kai given her position this time last year. Lesnar/Omos will be as bad as Kane/Khali.

Perhaps there are just too many characters that I don't care for at the moment. Ten years ago, I might've ate up this card and been counting down the days, maybe my passivity is catching up to me when it comes to WrestleMania season itself and maybe I put too much hype into it being Hollywood, I just think there could be more for what should feel like one of the bigger WrestleMania's. Anyway, I had been thinking about it so I'm glad I could come to this place still and talk about it, haha.

Saw a really weird news thing with Cody saying he wants to be a more active champion than Reigns or Brock was. Not sure if he slipped somewhere or it is total bullshit.

Also four way tag match added.

I think the only way he could be a less active champion than those two would be if he was literally dead.

I just had an epiphony.

I think the WrestleMania showcase tag matches were added, just so they could find a place on the show for Ronda Rousey (and Shayna Baszler).

Mar 21, 2023 22:16:53 GMT CM Punk'd said:

I just had an epiphony.

I think the WrestleMania showcase tag matches were added, just so they could find a place on the show for Ronda Rousey (and Shayna Baszler).

I posted this on March 8th

Mar 9, 2023 1:32:56 GMT jTjohncenaGOAT said:

Are they really going to leave Ronda off Mania?

If they wanted to work in multi-person matches they could have Ronda and Shayna run a gauntlet of tag teams.
> Nattie/Nox, LeRae/Nikki, Chelsea/Carmella.

They could have Drew and Sheamus do the same thing for the men’s side of things.
> Vikings, MMM, Gable & Otis, Street Profits, Elias/Boogs, New Day, Ricochet/Strowman, LDF, Hurt Biz.

maybe two teams from Raw and two teams from Smackdown, and one surprise team (#DIY, and Sasha/Naomi) or whatever they have. Maybe an NXT team if they don’t have a surprise.


Or they could just do some battle royals if they want more people to get a WM payday.

Mar 21, 2023 22:37:21 GMT jTjohncenaGOAT said:

Mar 21, 2023 22:16:53 GMT CM Punk'd said:

I just had an epiphony.

I think the WrestleMania showcase tag matches were added, just so they could find a place on the show for Ronda Rousey (and Shayna Baszler).

I posted this on March 8th

Mar 9, 2023 1:32:56 GMT jTjohncenaGOAT said:

Are they really going to leave Ronda off Mania?

If they wanted to work in multi-person matches they could have Ronda and Shayna run a gauntlet of tag teams.
> Nattie/Nox, LeRae/Nikki, Chelsea/Carmella.

They could have Drew and Sheamus do the same thing for the men’s side of things.
> Vikings, MMM, Gable & Otis, Street Profits, Elias/Boogs, New Day, Ricochet/Strowman, LDF, Hurt Biz.

maybe two teams from Raw and two teams from Smackdown, and one surprise team (#DIY, and Sasha/Naomi) or whatever they have. Maybe an NXT team if they don’t have a surprise.


Or they could just do some battle royals if they want more people to get a WM payday.

Geez, I should do a lot more reading.

I'd be happy of Ronda weren't on the show. Her stock has fallen significantly in the last 6 months, and as a week-to-week performer it has exposed how not-so-great she is. Ronda should have been kept as a part time attraction, similarly to Brock.

I actually don't think she deserves it, even though she is still a somewhat marquee name. Other women have worked harder and have been more consistent than she has.

Definitely not a one off epiphany I’m sure you’d agree jTjohncenaGOAT

Feb 28, 2023 19:50:13 GMT kingoftheworld said:

I know Ronda/Shayna are rumoured for the belts but with the whole Team Bextreme vs Damage Ctrl feud and Bayley looking like she’s without a match again, I think the Six Woman Tag is still likely but we get a Tag Team Turmoil as well.

All of a sudden now we have quite a few pairings in Nikki/Candice, Nattie/Tegan, Liv/Raquel and Carmella/Chelsea potentially too. So I see either Ronda/Shayna buzzing the gauntlet or they’re spoiler to Liv/Raquel at the final hurdle.

Two women’s matches per night? Although rumours that Trips wants a skinner card as well?

Mar 8, 2023 22:17:39 GMT kingoftheworld said:

There’s a lot of singles matches on this card. Unless Gunther’s defence becomes multi man? (Ladder?!) Still leaves a lot of names off, suppose they could do a men’s and women’s multi team tag titles number one contenders on either nights?

WWE just announced that Cena/Theory will be the opening match for WrestleMania, next Saturday.

They are doing the Andre the Giant Battle Royal on Smackdown again this year. Standing front and center of the graphic: Bobby Lashley. Dang.

Mar 25, 2023 1:52:04 GMT jTjohncenaGOAT said:

They are doing the Andre the Giant Battle Royal on Smackdown again this year. Standing front and center of the graphic: Bobby Lashley. Dang.

So, Otis and Chad Gable get spots on the show, but nothing for the Almighty.

How do you go from clashing with Brock, to not even making the big show in just one month?

I'm sure he's just glad to be away from Bray Wyatt!

If Lashley is not on the show, he is destroying someone after a match.

LA Knight demands a match because he doesn’t have his Wrestlemania moment. Lashley challenges him to a match, locks in the hurt lock and breaks the fastest match record and Knight still gets his moment without eating up a lot of time.

He can recover from the loss to Lashley considering how strongly Lashley is booked.