Wrestling Thread 8: Follow The Buzzards • Page 508

I have not watched NXT save for a random PLE here and there since 2.0, partially because too much wrestling, partially because I cannot fathom listening to Booker T on commentary for more than five minutes.

Fired up Vengeance Day during my workout this morning because I wanted to see the main event and hoped I could suffer through Booker, but was then pleasantly surprised to see that he wasn't there.

Love the guy as a worker/promo. Genuinely think he's the worst professional commentator I've ever heard.

 

yeah like if he's over he's over and WWE should probably make their fans happy but I still really struggle to understand the appeal of Cody. He seems like a good guy but like, what exactly does he bring to the table that the likes of KO or Sami or Ricochet or Gunther or Drew doesn't?

 

I mean, you pretty much answered your own question. He's more over than any of those guys and has been consistently since being brought into the company. He's also a PR dream, which they've always required their top guys to be. Speaks more like an executive than the executives do. I absolutely love Sami and KO and think they bring tremendous value to the roster and are deserving of main event spotlights, but they're not the guys that are going to show up on the Today show (or any other similar program.) That's guys like Roman and Cody, the way it was John Cena before them.

For what it's worth, though, I see nothing wrong with wanting to see Rock/Roman more than Cody/Roman. It's a dream match. It's been teased for years. I want to see that match. I don't even mind that they're doing it this year. I just care that they took the lamest, most damaging route to get there at the expense of the first top babyface fans and company have been aligned on in like twenty years.

 

It's early February 2027. Cody Rhodes has just returned to AEW, once again as an EVP, but this time with a lot more influence. Having recently played a main character in one of the Fast and Furious movies, Cody now functions mainly in a backstage capacity in AEW.

Long time world champion Action Andretti needs a new opponent, having decisively beat every other serious contender (Kenny Omega, Mox, a now roided Danhausen). Over the last few months, a now bleach blonde Jack Perry has become the most over babyface in AEW. Fans want him to "finish the story". He earns his shot, finally there is a glimpse at what an end to Andretti's reign of terror could look like.

But when Jack Perry stands face to face with Andretti, he pauses..."cry me a river. It won't be me who is facing you. It will be..."

ADRENALINE
IN MY SOUL
SOMETHING SOMETHING
CODY RHODES.

 

I was never a Cody guy, but he played the hell outta Stardust. Took shit and made it sparkle. Will admit I never saw AEW so when he came back to WWE I didnt really care. Then he got his push and I can see why. He has charisma and the skills, I just dont love his "story." Never been a Cody guy and wasnt mad when he lost WM39, but I will say since then I have gained more respect and likeness towards him. But to see The Rock in the ring again gets me way more amped. Makes me feel 16 again. Cody does deserve to finish his story though, cant discredit the man.

 

what Cody has over Ricochet is every aspect of pro wrestling other than sheer athleticism

 

I feel this way as well, even though it sucks for Cody. The worst thing in all this is that it makes the heavyweight title feel even more diminished. The Seth v Cody angle isn’t great either.

I’ve always thought that the Rock winning would be a waste since he will obviously not be consistent.

 

Ricochet desperately needs a new name/gimmick.

 

I dont see Rock winning regardless if the title is up. If there was no title atleast it would be more believable that he could win.

 

I could see some possibilities if he signed on for a run of some kind, but yeah it seems unlikely and wouldn’t make much sense.

 

I'd be ALL IN on a run. But the majority of the fans wouldnt be.

 

The backlash is more from people who watch the shows every week where the main champion only shows up once a blue moon. They've done a good job of building up stars but they have nothing to fight for (especially on Smackdown) and they know Rock/Roman is going to be a terrible match that's just going to halt the main storyline even further. People want to get behind the stars who are there every week but there's nothing for them to do, so it's going to be hard to care/follow the show if everyone is going to be twisting in the wind for another 12 months.

 

great point. So makes sense for Rock to go for the Hollywood title and Cody go for the work horse title. But yea, Cody said he wants Romans and to watch everything he has crumble as well as take his title. So start with his family, including the Rock. Then take the title. IDK, just trying to figure out how this cluster is booked.

 

Yea but he's still not anywhere near The rocks level, especially among wrestling fans. It was easy to turn on batista for Daniel bryan....turning on the rock for Cody, it can happen, but won't be as easy without coming off as contrived and a work

 

Rick O'Shea and takes the recently vacated Butch role in the Brawling brutes.

 

i miss those name rumors, remember when sheets said Sami was gonna be a metrosexual hairstylist named Gene Rico?

 

I'm not necessarily the biggest Cody fan either even if he's over & gets the big segments right, but with him there's at least a path forward with what to do with the main belt. If you keep it off him & have him beat everyone for another year while Roman or the Rock holds the top title, it's setting up a long stretch of uninteresting shows.

 

Its a shame because I don't get why the wwe doesn't understand it can have its cake and eat it..

Rock vs reigns is 100% a wrestlemania caliber match. Not a question.... but nah man, the story doesn't have to include the belt and doesn't have to go in this awful direction.

I would have had either rock cost Cody the match last year (rock heel)...or Cody wins outright and the following raw when reigns blames the usos and sakoa, rock comes in and calls him a disgrace to the family name (rock face). Setting up something the following year.

 

Meltzer’s new line of thinking (that this is a work) still makes no sense unless WWE’s only goal is to make the promotion the ultimate heel again, the one thing they’ve spent the last four plus years trying desperately to undo.

You can’t just put the genie back in the bottle with another swerve (which I don’t think is coming, anyway) - the damage has been done to Cody, the match, the World title, and Rock.

 

I need a spreadsheet of the gimmick/name changes from the Ruthless Aggression Era because it made you terrified about the future of NXT's stars.

 

He's a much better promo than Sami, Ricochet, Gunther and Drew and has the whole lineage/I left and made myself a star without you think going.

He's basically the only one who has both camps, the casuals/kids/wwe bobos and the people who love AEW and the indy darlings and all that.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/saw/s/WRfwrPmfWR

 

People already have turned on the rock lol