I know there is the Royal Rumble winner too, and by all logic the winner of the RR should go for the richest prize which is clearly Reigns.... but CM Punk chose RAW over SD even though logically to prove he is "the best in the world" he should have chosen SD to take down Reigns.... so he has already gone against "logic" which means that Punk can win the Rumble and face Rollins for the second rate world title.

The Reigns storyline is starting to feel like HHH Raw reign in that it feels like multiple chances to make someone have been missed.

Sami, Cody, whichever Uso, LA Knight.

It hasnt felt lifeless the way Trips reign was because hes not dominating all TV weekly but it still seems WWE is unable to push themselves to strike when the irons hot for a new guy.

Having him drop the title to the Rock would be a massive misstep. Maybe they will re use the Brock/Goldberg Mania storyline. I would much rather see someone get the clean pin over Roman though.

I will say they have built up a nice crop of guys for the fans to get behind once Reigns finally drops the belt.

Can't really get invested in Rollins' world title or anything with that.... but once Reigns drops the title and you've got all those names I just listed mixing it up and actually able to win the world title, I think "business will pick up"

The Rock vs Roman doesn't need the title. It's for the Head of the Table. Cody finishing the story means winning the WWE Title, not defeating Roman. Nonetheless, The Rock being involved, if he actually is, messes up a lot of things for WrestleMania with regard to the trajectory and longer term stories of multiple people in both title pictures.

I still somewhat think calling out Roman was for the viral moment more than anything. Just like when he mentioned it to Pat McAfee on College Gameday. They're all about social media views, clicks, and the revenue those bring in through advertisers above all it seems. Unless, the match is at Elimination Chamber. Don't think The Rock would agree to anything but WrestleMania though.

Rock vs Roman is likely for Perth. That doesn't mean that Rock doesn't have a Wrestlemania match lined up. I am thinking of one person I would absolutely give a match to on that big a stage. Yeah!

If that actually happens, I am starting a newsletter.

Start one anyways. If it doesn't happen you just get to say "plans change".

Ziggles to NJPW

It's crazy to me how dirt sheet writers have made a living on not actually knowing anything.

It has to be Cody at Mania, otherwise there would have been no reason to keep them apart from each other since the Mania match. They haven't touched once since that match, if they weren't going back to it there is no reason not to have had the big money rematch.

Bigger money rematch = Rock vs (literally anyone here).

But I also don't "get" Cawdy.

He's a classic NWA style babyface who is very good at emotionally connecting with an audience.

He will be a heel before the end of the year.

I just don't get why... he doesn't come across as particularly very genuine or believable.... always sounds rehearsed as hayell

Someone on these boards said it best I think... Cody is fantastic at playing a character but not that great when he tries to play himself.

Maybe, but nowhere near big enough to just throw out two years of storytelling. It's also been said many times now that WWE primarily makes their money off the brand itself as opposed to individual superstars and matches. Not that they don't sell, but they're no longer in a position where they have to shift everything they're doing just to accomodate another possible match up.

Lets not forget that mania is no longer the be all, end all for major wwe shows. They're going to want some big match ups for those other stadium shows. Summerslam and rhe Saudi shows have becomebig enough events to be the backdrop for Roman vs Rock.

But Cody has to win at mania. They've done really good job at keeping Cody over and fans invested in the story, but the longer you wait, the more you risk the fans getting tired and losing interest. Cody beats Roman at mania, and in a number of ways, it could serve as the catalyst for rock vs roman.

That's pretty accurate I think. Maybe this is what I've tried to convey. To me, his entrance is the best part of his whole package. Like Bobby Roode's theme being more over than he is.

They don't HAVE to, no. But just as in times past, they indeed move mountains for The Rock. I can see them bumping the Cawdy angle for the bigger cash grab because they've done it many times before. That's one of the reasons I started to have waning interest years ago. Lotsa work, lotsa build that would end up as a "schmoz" (thanks, Bret) or other general fuckery that just kinda made everything up to it, pointless.

Hell, that exists with Reigns now, with the amount of interference that goes on in nearly all of his matches. I haven't done the math, but nearly every single defense, the end is the same: interference from someone, will they / won't they, Reigns retains.

Rock v Reigns, even for a lapsed casual fan, has WAY more appeal than Cody v Reigns, which only appeals to those who already regularly watch and know the "long story", if they even remember.

Riddle for NJPW seems like a good get. He might fit well there with his legit background.

I imagine HHH has had the top Mania matches planned for a little while now but they won’t have planned to have Punk or Rock (if they actually do have him). So this could really be a case of “plans change”.

I’d be quite down for Cody “finishing the story” beating Roman at Mania, Roman going off the deep end with The Bloodline stuff and Rock coming in to challenge for “Head of the Table” at SummerSlam finally closing that storyline off.

I don’t think you have Rock take the title off Reigns. It’s too big of a “feather in the cap” to give to a guy just coming in for a short run. How do you get the belt off him? I’ve seen a cash in by Priest to move the belt off Rock but again, this title win should be the thing that cements someone in the “top spot” not a cheap win via MITB.

Reminds me of The Streak win going to Lesnar and the big win over Lesnar was…Taker. Had the chance to really cement someone with the win over Taker at Mania (and you could argue it took Lesnar to another level anyway) or the win over Lesnar subsequently.

They’ve got themselves into a nice place where there are a number of guys “bubbling under”. Cody, Seth, Punk, Knight, Jey Uso, rumours of Sami being positioned into a title contender, Drew who you can fold in.

Really interesting road to WrestleMania.

Also, lol at the rumours that HHH’s announcement was going to be a working relationship with TNA and ended up being MITB announced for Toronto. Talk about getting carried away.

Yeah not sure why they are hyping up a PPV location as a big announcement. Of all the things they could copy from AEW, hyped up lame announcements is not what they should be rolling with.

Wouldn't that be gimmick infringement for Meltzy?

That was a weird fuss to make over a location. I wonder if the arena paid for it, because it does seem to be a week in that building.

... if he can keep his piss clean.

I don't even mean that as a knock on him. I'm being serious in the same way the whole nebulous "criminal activity" thing pops up for certain people trying to work up in Canada. Riddle makes even HALF the extracarricular noise over there than he did here in the States, and they'll prob'ly toss his ass into the ocean faster than any plane would land to cart him away civilly.

Cody wins the belt in Australia, I think. Roman doesn’t want to wrestle Rock, so Rock makes it personal. Rock gets to endorse the younger guy.

Rock vs. Roman is something you know they’ve wanted to do forever and a day. It will go back through their lives, their football days, Rock raising Roman’s arm, etc. I don’t agree that is them throwing away story. The video package for Rock and Roman is likely going to be a special one.

Not exactly like this is new, though. WWE has been doing that for ages. Yes, it's usually centered around WrestleMania and/or Summer Slam, but they've been hyping cities forever even well after the city stopped being one of those "FIRST TIME EVAR" deals. They kinda wore the rope down from that well with how many times they ran :Vince voice: "Toronto Sky Dome!!"

I think Punk wore black trunks in MSG for a reason. I think he calls out Austin after failing to win the Rumble. It won’t be a heated feud or anything, but it could tell a great story. Punk doesn’t get his Mania main event. He needs to sharpen his claws. It could be the biggest mistake of his life, since he could realistically get his ass kicked, but to be the Best in the World he needs to defeat the best of all-time. The other icon of Attitude.

Austin shows up and aw hell son, it was all nice and quiet on the Broken Skull Ranch until he heard his name being hollered.

I was hoping the announcement would be a TV announcement with lip service paid to the Money in the Bank thing. And then MJF crashes the show!

I decided to check out how TNA’s Hard to Kill card was shaping up.

* I’m kind of done with Brian Myers. He’s in a tag team with Eddie Edwards. They’re going against Frankie Kazarian & Eric Young. I’m sure it will be solid work, but it’s hard to care about these teams. They all have more preferred partners lol. It would be funny if Davey Richards, Matt Cardona, Scorpio Sky, etc. all showed up.

* Crazzy Steve is still around. He’s having a hardcore match against Tommy Dreamer, who is still around. Not that interesting to me.

* Rich Swann vs. Steve Maclin. A match between two former TNA “World” Champs.

* There’s a giant clusterfuck for the tag belts. Eh, it looks like a slightly better than scene than AEW. Mike Bailey & Trent Seven in a team is interesting. They’ve got the Grizzled Young Vets too. Eh.

* Chris Sabin is defending the X-Division Title against El Hijo del Vikingo and Kushida. Two smaller guys you’ve at least heard of.

* There’s a Women’s Ultimate X match. A stronger scene than the AEW one, I’m sure.

* Dirty Dango vs. PCO. A match between two legends.

* Alex Hammerstone is apparently doing something with TNA. I’m glad to see he hasn’t fallen into the trap of signing with AEW. He’s going against Josh Alexander. Will Ospreay must have gotten pulled, which is a shame for them.

* Trinity vs. Jordynne Grace. I’m not invested, but TNA has always had the “better” women’s wrestling outside WWE.

* Alex Shelley vs. Moose should probably be solid. You’d think Moose would be taking the belt here, right?

I wonder if there will be any surprises? There are a bunch of WWE talent that could be free, maybe even a Kamille or Richard Holliday too.

No Joe Hendry on the card? I suspect he’ll end up somewhere. Maybe in a match with Bully Ray or something?

Joe Hardy in the Impact Zone!

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a/cpVRFiN" data-context="false" ><a href="//imgur.com/a/cpVRFiN">,,</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

BAH GAWD!!!!!

HE's BITING HIM REF!!!! GET IN THERE AND STOP THAT!!!! THAT DASTARDLY SUMBITCH!

Say his name and he appears; I believe in Jeff Harvey...

TK going nanners again. This time he's trying to hinder Jinder.

USA Network appears to have started it with a legit question. I mean, what was the cagematch rating?

What if this series of tweets from Tony leads to Jinder becoming the next LA Knight!?

I don’t think it will get that far (no one really cares about AEW), but holy fuck is Tony Khan fucking stupid.

First of all, it’s not a double-standard that people prefer the better overall product. It betrays you don’t know how to book. Hook getting 28 wins against nobodies doesn’t mean shit. You haven’t brought him along any and it shows. Jinder just traded fisticuffs in an angle with The Rock.

And it’s more blame the fans shit. Like they’re somehow at fault for not liking oranges when they enjoy apples.

He doesn’t fucking get it. At all. And he brags about not getting it.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I have never ever seen anyone take this bump like this <a href="https://t.co/V1NyEjxpO8">pic.twitter.com/V1NyEjxpO8</a></p>&mdash; Rasslin Uploader~! (Armstrong Alley on YouTube) (@KrisPLettuce) <a href="https://twitter.com/KrisPLettuce/status/1745906272925520010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The following has paid for itself already:

Told you it was evergreen.

Miss Gertners GIFs :(

what's up with like 1,000 guests viewing this thread rn...