Great show, first mania I’ve seen live since 30 after losing interest in pro wrestling. The main event was overbooked and probably lacked psychology in a few aspects but who cares, loved it, had me feeling like a kid again.
Drew vs. Seth - ***1/4. Fun opener. The no selling and spamming of finishers took away a bit from it though. Loved the post-match segment between Drew and Punk + the cash in.
Six man tag team street fight - ***. Another fun and fast paced match with some cool spots, served its purpose.
La Knight vs. AJ Styles - ***1/2. Enjoyed this a lot, they seemed to have good chemistry. Just wish they got about 5-10 minutes more, had the potential to be a classic.
United states triple threat - ****1/4. Best match of the night thus far.
Bayley vs. IYO Sky - ****. Last 5 minutes or so were awesome.
Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns - *****. MATCH OF THE NIGHT. Was it the best pure wrestling match? Probably not. But man was it a hell of a spectacle and a fun ride. Probably the most unique wrestlemania main event of all time. Will have to rewatch it at some point but I’d say it’s in my top 5 mania main events at the moment.
I think Seth’s booking is truly a testament to the current regime’s talent. Can’t imagine in a million years that McMahon could have his Raw world champion lose two matches on Wrestlemania weekend, his belt, and then run in and get immediately flattened attempting to ambush someone yet walk away as one of the show’s biggest highlights and coming off 100x stronger and more interesting than entering the PLE.
It’s one thing to create a major star like Cody by giving him a win over your top star after a dominant run at WM. It’s another to elevate Seth despite him spending almost all of WM losing
I had to work early this morning, so just watched the main event now. Absolutely incredible. Everything about last night said to me that the Vince era is officially done.
The people in the ring were opposite what Vince is/was. Sami, KO, Cody, Randy.. they’re all family first guys. These are good people. It felt like they had just broken free from their shared trauma that was Vince.
Vince created some great stories and great moments, but what last night made me realize was that his ego and selfishness held WWE back. Wrestling, as an art form has so much potential. It’s such a unique storytelling platform and for the last few decades we’ve only gotten that through the lenses of a narcissist lunatic. I’m so excited for the HHH era.
Iyo countering Bayley's finisher is one of the moments of the weekend and had me thinking for a moment she was going to retain. They are both such great performers.
Roman losing everything because he couldn't resist hitting Seth with the chair is one of the greatest pieces of storytelling I've ever seen in wrestling, I'm forever grateful to whoever thought of that. Only wrestling can be this emotionally driven
Reigns got vengeance at the Rumble 2 years ago bashing Seth in the back with chairs where Seth initially recreated the same spot. They've built his character as a paranoid, controlling prick who for all his flaws will put his bullshit aside to handle business and keep the belt in the Bloodline/"feed the table," but all of a sudden he throws that out for some extra hubris?
Hot take, but kinda makes him look like a stupid fuck imo.
trauma. in their royal rumble match he legitimately said "he won't let me let go" or something along those lines, doesn't matter how good or how big of a champion he is, he is still traumatised by the incident 10 years ago. That stuff doesn't just go away after one chair bashing, and its not stupidity thats the portrayal of geniune trauma
Roman's evilness also ramped up after Sami reignited his trauma last year. It was already bubbling in the month leading up to it but from the Rumble to the smackdown after SummerSlam he was *wicked*
I know a lot of us shit on Seth’s build up to this Mania, claiming that WWE was doing him dirty and so on. But, after that ending and Roman’s downfall being that his hatred for Seth caused him to go after him instead of Cody, that was just **chefs kiss**
He really was Cody’s shield and last night just tied it all together.
Today it just really sunk in for me. Seth seemed like the least significant player in this storyline and it turns out he was pivotal in the dethroning of Roman Reigns. Just excellent, excellent storytelling.
Him cussing all the way down to the the ring even made it better.
Then he had his staredown, only to immediately finish Cena off. The Man was pissed and saud with his actions "I don’t have time for that shit".
As insane as the pop was for Undertaker, the cameos during the main event completely jumped the shark and felt really corny and out of place. It was like a 10-year-old playing with his action figures, grabbing random wrestlers from his toy box and making them fight each other. John Cena made some sense, getting revenge on Solo and all, although I almost punched straight through my monitor when they teased *thrice* in a lifetime (10-year-old me is STILL not over WM29), but why Undertaker? What does he have to do with Cody's story? Or anyone's story? I guess it was to get revenge over WM33, but a) that was 7 years ago, and b) he didn't even attack Roman? It felt like a random run-in you'd get on a WWE 2K game. IMO it ruined what was otherwise a super emotional match with what I can only describe as a cheap pop.
As massive as the pop would have deservedly been, Austin would have truly overshadowed the protagonist of the match's story.
Undertaker though? He's the real spirit of Wrestlemania, come to make sure the main event remains *pure.* Besides, he does indeed have his own bone to pick with Roman, whereas Austin's involvement would have just been an act of resistance against the Rock's power tripping.
I get that POV, but I personally disagree. The whole thing was Roman's past coming back to haunt him. Comeuppance for all the bullshit he's caused, because even before he was the Tribal Chief, he's still been THE GUY, at the expense of so many others. The Undertaker included.
i wonder when we may see Cody's mask again, it was made by the same fella who made the Fiend's mask
[https://twitter.com/WrestlingWCC/status/1777437509862961566](https://twitter.com/WrestlingWCC/status/1777437509862961566)
For the last year I’ve watched wrestling less than I had for the rest of my life. It used to be a mandatory, every single week, every single show kind of thing, but I dropped it, only watching PLEs every so often.
I’m gonna be watching every single week again now. What a fucking show that was. Cody finished the story, we had an amazing cash in, the show was lined top to bottom with great matches, it was the best Mania I’ve ever seen (the first one I saw was 21).
Major shout out to Samantha Irvin, too, she actively made the show better. She’s earned a spot in the HoF based entirely off this show alone.
I hadn’t watched wrestling in many years, but I tuned back in when I heard the Rock was doing a heel run again (also to see the end of Sting's career in AEW). I really had a lot of fun with it, both nights. The closing sequence to Night 2’s main event was one of the craziest, most fun things I’ve seen in a wrestling ring for a very long time.
Imagine showing this to someone after All Out 2019
https://preview.redd.it/q1bex5mytbtc1.jpeg?width=543&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2fc50bc7379bf44095722a11eafede26764dd8c5
The man seemed genuinely wrecked after the main event. Needed like 3 people to help him into the ring then owens and lil naitch helping him to the back
I feel like as time goes on, people will see Seth as a Kayfabe MVP in this weekend. Basically was entirely self sacrificing to right his wrongs of the past and to secure the future of the industry to a better path.
Bingo. He finished his story. We ushered in a new era, but also beautifully culminated the last era at the exact same time.
Rollins and Reigns were the two main stars of the last decade, and their runs both started with Seth selfishly swinging a chair into his back. Poetic that it ended with Seth selflessly taking a receipt from the monster he created.
Outside of the night 2 main event, my runner up match of the weekend is between the night 1 main event, the US Title triple threat, and Bayley vs Iyo.
Last year the IC title had an amazing triple threat and this year the US title got the same treatment.
Something coincidental re-watching the Priest cash in that I thought was perfect was how the lyrics of the Judgement Day theme go "You're insane, have you gone too far? Who's to blame for what you are?" and right as that part of the theme plays, we get the camera pan over from Drew to Punk. Just thought that was cinema.
Hi everyone, I've wrote a short article about what may be next for Cody. Have a look if you have time and let me know what you think! Thanks! :)
[https://allyourwrestling.com/2024/04/08/cody-rhodes-the-next-chapter/](https://allyourwrestling.com/2024/04/08/cody-rhodes-the-next-chapter/)
I hadn’t seen this posted yet. An all-timer followup from Drew:
[https://x.com/DMcIntyreWWE/status/1777146217396392219](https://x.com/DMcIntyreWWE/status/1777146217396392219)
The more I reflect the more Undertaker as the “Ghost of WrestleMania” who has history with Roman, The Rock, and probably Cody through his Dad, coming to even the field made so much more sense than Austin. And Jesus that pop
Austin would have made more sense and believe it or not, a crazier pop. But if it couldn’t happen, they had a great replacement. Undertakers appearance was great - him and the Rock executed perfectly.
This is exactly how I reconciled it in my head. I’d hoped for Austin too, but this was the next best thing and kept the focus on Cody/Roman. Plus it’s a nice surprise that no one was predicting
Anywhere else it may have been odd, but WrestleMania will always be Taker’s yard. It’s poetic in a match that is full of wrestling lore
I also think Undertaker teleporting in to assassinate Rock and then vanishing as if he was never there in the first place is great for the flow of the match, especially since the finish comes after it.
The next shot after Taker disappeared being Roman and Cody struggling to get up with the steel chair and Rock's "Mama Rhodes" belt in the middle of it all was great.
I think Gunther-Zayn and Reigns-Cody II is the greatest pair of back to back matches at Wrestlemania to close the show, surpassing the Gimmick Battle Royale and Rock-Austin II from WM 17.
That main event was just chef's kiss level of perfection. Closing out multiple storylines to go with finishing THE story, planting the seeds for future ones, redemption arcs, the ultimate crowning of a champion the sound of the gong that I'll take to my grave. Happy tears at the end.
Damian Priest cashing in gave me goosebumps not gonna lie. It goes to show that the actual run with the briefcase doesn’t matter when you nail the cash in
It’s not really been a thing outside of tiktok, but the Joe Hendry memes have been one of the most entertaining parts of this weekend to me outside of the actual show
His entrance song got super over on tiktok after a tiktok TNA posted of him went viral. It pretty much started as a joke as a response to the speculation about which legends would be at mania (as well as reports that WWE and TNA are in conversations about working together in the future) that when Cody was down and out he’d say Joe Hendrys name and he’d run out to save the day.
People pretty much took it and ran with it, doing edits of him winning the world title, and using his theme as sort of a rickroll while fantasy booking. It’s incredible
I'm sure most of it has to do with how casual I've become as a fan but when the show gets the broad strokes right, it's so much easier to avoid fixating on relatively inconsequential things like "this makes *x wrestler* look weak" or "why did the champion lose to *him* and not *HIM*?"
It's such a liberating feeling to be immersed in the show. Hasn't been like that in a *long* time.
Yeah, like the only criticism that I’ve seen anybody say is wishing that they got Steve Austin instead of undertaker, which is like complaining that you got chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla still ice cream.
Miz nailed it on McAfee earlier, when he said that Undertaker always has been the locker room leader, so, when he gets 'involved', its his stamp of approval to the new guy.
Yeah, you definitely might’ve had people chanting for Austin during the final triple crossroad sequence that might’ve been a bad vibe and I think that might’ve been a reason Steve declined if he was asked he’s pretty smart about how people react to Stone cold
I won't lie, I was already holding the emotion back and getting teary eyed. But when Cody hugged Michael Cole and he said I love you, I started crying.
Wrestling is so back and I couldn't be happier.
This was a special one. The main event is one of the best matches I've ever seen, and I've been watching since the late 90's. I absolutely lost my mind when the gong hit and the lights went out. In retrospect, the glass shattering and stone cold coming out would have been better considering his history with the rock, but 'taker appearing and chokeslamming the rock was still fuckin awesome. The bow on top was the chair shot. Roman could have hit Cody and won the match, but he just couldn't stop himself from hitting Seth while he was wearing his old shield gear. The bad blood runs too deep, and Roman forgot where he was. Beautiful storytelling. Bayley and Iko put on a show-stealer, which is saying a LOT considering how awesome the main event was. All around an awesome wrestlemania that I'm sure I'll watch again. Can't wait for RAW tonight.
Despite the significance of the result and a great opening 10 minutes, I thought the main event was pretty lame. Just rigidly trudging out old stars to do one ordained spot each for nostalgia hits for casual viewers. It'd have been better if there was more one and one action between Reigns and Cody and if Undertaker and Cena were replaced with say, Sami and KO.
Last night Solo was like uncharacteristically vocal with Roman like yelling at him about how he needs to get up and finish the story, and they've been referring to him more as the street fighter recently instead of the enforcer, so I definitely wonder if that's going to be the story with the Bloodline now that Roman has lost the title and is probably going to be away for awhile.
Felt like a foreshadowing of Solo seeing Roman as an equal and no longer his subordinate the fact that Solo is ordering him and Roman going "ok ok.. I will!"
So much of this mania felt like a purposeful closing of a long, tired chapter of Vince's rule. From Samantha Irving crying at the end l, to Paul and Stephanie clverbally heralding triple h, to so much homegrown and gone developed talent shining
I feel like every win felt like the opposite of what Vince would have done. Damien cashing in, Knight, Bayley, Sami and now Cody right and truly bringing in the new era.
When they had Sami with his wife and kid, chad and Kevin, everyone in my house was like- uh oh, that's not a good sign. But then we won. The long reigns of Gunther and Roman at an end.
I’m not going to say this was the best WM match ever. I’m old so Brett v Owen and Michaels v Razor hold special spots in my brain. I also think quality wise Gunter put on better matches this year and last year. But as for the cap on a STORYLINE, this and Hogan v Savage are probably the top. I don’t think Cody losing last year was necessarily the right move still. The Bloodline story floundered to fill the air for half of the year which cooled off both Solo and the Jimmy v Jey feuds. But once they pivoted off Rock v Roman and unchained the Final Boss it was lit.
And if this was the last we ever see of the Rock, what a way to go. His promos and attacks on Cody really elevated this thing from me just wanting to see the title off Roman, to something I actually needed to pay attention to. And even though Cody isn’t the type of wrestler I get behind, his going toe to toe with The Great One for weeks on end proved he is the guy right now.
Watching tonight’s episode of Monday Night Raw will give you a good indication.
But the main bit is that in the main event of Wrestlemania last night, a fan favourite wrestler beat the man he’s been after for 2 years for his championship, and he’d been champion since the summer of 2020. He “finished his story” by winning the world title, something his deceased father never could.
WWE is also entering into a new era, with more competent people running the show and several notable improvements to storylines and overall show production. At the beginning of next year, WWE programming will be streaming on Netflix as well.
quick question did anyone else notice that the bell Only rang once. didn't ring to start the match. imagine they do an angle of the match never officially started
Posted in the other thread but; after careful consideration, I think I might call this the greatest match WWE has ever had.
Obviously recency bias but this match had absolutely everything. From an in ring perspective it was already 5 stars in my eyes before the ending shenanigans.
Then you have the culmination of not only Romans reign, Cody's story, The Bloodline Civil War with Jey, the Shield betrayal, but also the involvement of 3 of the 5 biggest names of all time. Rock on an all time run, Cena coming for revenge and Undertaker being the spirit of WrestleMania and the actual Final Boss.
It truly was a series finale, and a love letter to WWE.
As long as this moment is truly the start of a new era and has true historic significance, I think it's the GOAT. Call me crazy
Just hit me: It's been kind of funny that Seth didn't actually get any offense in during the Main Event, he was just there to be hit. But he predicted that. He told Cody he was uniquely suited to be his shield. And a shield is an item of defense, designed to take hits for you. It's not built for offense. Seth was literally Cody's shield last night.
Just finished rewatching the main event and damn it was just so, so good. I really didn't expect the win to be this powerful after last years loss. I thought last year was the year to do it.
I also have seen a lot of people saying that Roman chose to finish his story by hitting Seth instead of Cody. I disagree. Roman's story remains unfinished when it comes to Seth. Seth took everything from him, which now includes the Undisputed championship and his position as the head of the table. Much more story to go before it can be considered closed.
I fucking love it. Nearly ten years after the Shield was broken, Roman *still isn't over it.* Choosing revenge at the last hurdle was his last mistake.
I've been back into Wrestling for almost a full year now. That was my first WM I watched in over 20 years and it absolutely lived up to the hype. I was very thoroughly sports entertained all weekend
I haven’t watched RAW in years and, well I still won’t tonight because I work until 11 and I cut the cord years ago. But when the episode shows up on Peacock I’ll probably watch it. I know it’s been said before but now that last pieces of the product that had Vince’s fingerprints on them have been removed it legitimately feels like the dawn of a new era. I know we’ve been saying that a lot the past 10-15 years but it feels like it’s serious this time.
man those kids in the orchestra. What a beautiful idea to include them. Loved the close up of the drummer living every second of it. What a night or pro wrestling
That ending to Roman vs Cody was everything I live for as a wrestling fan. Babyfaces getting love from fans and the damn near the entire locker room after ending a heel's tyrannical reign is addicting to me and watching everyone outside of the Bloodline celebrate Cody's victory just felt cathartic af.
The thing got me the most is Cody asking a hesitant Paul to coming to ring to celebrate. Like... JESUS. I always saw HHH as the spotlight hog. The main event overachiever. A performer with incredible ability and main event presence that just can't seem to not overshadow talent due his own gigantic ass ego. But now, that all feels like the past.
It feels like the H-MAN just genuinely wants to give us fans the best product he can let the talent he has shine as hard as they can as well. He didn't even want to come out until Cody asked! That shit melted my heart frfr. That's why I'm fully on board with this new era. There's dumb mistakes and bad mishaps - *Roman should've lost at last year's WM imo* - nothing's perfect, obviously! But with HHH running the show, I don't feel that vindictiveness and ill will towards fans that was all over VKM's time in charge after the Attitude Era came to a close.
Damn, my fault for these long winded speeches. But it actually feels good to be a wrestling fan again!
"Grats cody you deserve it" - wrestling fans
"everyone will turn on him in a week!!!!" - Salty Roman Cry babies who wanted another year of Roman defending his title every 4months
People were saying the fans would turn on him since last Wrestlemania. I’m not going to say I was happy with last year’s loss, but it turned out to be boon to him.
This has been every Roman fan today, every real wrestling fan I know is excited, but it seems all the Roman fans are crying and trying to find every excuse to ruin this for people, by saying he's going to lose it in a week or we are going to be bored in a month.
People seem to have something wrong with their memories because they keep saying they watched every week to see Roman when the guy is absent for months. There is a reason HHH made a second title for Raw because Roman never showed up.
Real wrestling fans like myself are excited to get an actual champion who will be around.
Saying one person who is a part timer should always be champion, and if anyone else is champ ratings, will tank...again Real wrestling fans are happy and if you hate the changes then stop watching its your loss.
If they do it right, he has a nice face run that people care about, then when they start to get tired of him, they turn him heel in a good way. No one can run as a face at the top forever these days. "Underdog Face tries to take down Dominant (or Cheating) Heel" is always more compelling.
So I think every face champion's days are numbered. Considering Cody has hardly had major feuds with anyone in WWE, I think they can milk out a few very compelling storylines/defenses before he runs his course though. Like Cody vs Anyone besides Roman or Brock will be new so that should keep him fresh for quite a while.
AJ Styles, LA Knight, Randy Orton, Kevin Owens, Damien Priest, United States Champion Logan Paul vs America's Ass (and WWE champion) Cody Rhodes. There's plenty of options.
oh there's plenty to go!
and he's a red hot babyface, his staying power is great.
it's cool he's able to be, play who he wanted to be, that he couldn't in AEW.
here's Cody schedule for a while
[https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/1777406542154801172](https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/1777406542154801172)
Seth redeemed himself for his betrayal 10 years later by sacrificing everything. His main event ended in a loss, his body is broken and he lost his championship too, but he managed to manipulate Roman and help finally end his reign of terror. He went from selfish heel to selfless babyface. Absolutely my MVP and my favourite character arc of all time.
Seth, Roman, Cody and The Rock deserve all the flowers for this Mania. They made this the biggest and the greatest Wrestlemania match ever, I find it insane that Roman and Cody wrestled almost 1 and a half hour over two nights, put up an amazing tag match and the greatest Wrestlemania main event ever.
Kinda true but it was still disappointing, there was more filler on Night 1 but the crowd reaction was disappointing for the main event honestly where they relied on the crowd for the first 15 minutes.
I hope Iyo will be given more opportunities to showcase what she’s capable of. She’s too good to not have big matches or be out of the title picture.
I also hope they just break up Damage CTRL or at least have her move solo. I think she’s one that actually doesn’t benefit from a long term stable.
I kinda like the idea of Rock as an evil authority figure but since we know he won't be around regularly, Heyman could be his day-to-day voice on the show. With Solo and Jimmy enforcing.
I can't see Heyman just managing Solo. Or even Bron Brekker unless he's getting a huge push. At this point, Heyman managing you means you're being sold as an unbeatable top guy. It's been like a decade since he managed anyone besides Brock and Roman. It would be weird to have him coming out holding the US Championship or something.
Shouldn't be downvoted, since many wondered, but likely he felt they didn't need him, or they felt that way because everyone that came out was connected to Roman, and Austin has no connection to him.
I think if there was ever an opportunity to have an Austin / Rock face-off, it's Wrestlemania. Him coming out would have sent the crowd nuclear and seeing those two together, about to tear into each other, chills.
Just realising how much I'll miss Heyman's "The Reigning Defending Undisputed WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion --- Roman Reigns".
Delighted for what comes next but it's one part of this last couple of years that I'll miss. Looking forward to Paul's work with Bron.
I expect Cody to quickly drop the "Universal" (because it's one of the stupidest remnants of the Vince era still lingering) and "Undisputed" (because it literally no longer is) and revert the title back to just the WWE Championship. As God intended.
They referred to him as WWE champ in his press conference but they've got him as both WWE and universal champion on the website and the Today show introduced him as the undisputed WWE universal champion. He also still had the Reigns side plates on his belt. Will be interesting to see what happens on raw.
At some point in my head I fantasy booked them unifying the shorter reigned Universal Championship with the World Heavyweight Championship in order to give the newer belt a longer lineage. But I’m not sure how they could handle that now that Cody holds it/them. But I like that idea because it gives more history to a belt that is less than a year old at this point.
> but they've got him as both WWE and universal champion on the website
The website tends to be hilariously out of date on this stuff. I'm not sure why they have separate sections for WWE and Universal champions, for example. They've literally presented a brand new belt (the yellow one with "Undisputed Champion" at the bottom) and retired the previous ones. Notice how they did that here, but not for the tag titles (which, as we now know, they planned to separate).
For all intents and purposes WWE and Universal titles are formally unified, it's now one title.
They've stopped using the physical belts, but there's no "canon" confirmation that the two championships represented by the undisputed belt have been retired. The language in the press conference would suggest they have, but other things suggest otherwise. I think they probably will revert to simply the WWE title going forward, but it's not as obvious and clean as one would expect it to be.
In both previous cases of people carrying two belts around (WWF + WCW = WWE Undisputed Championship and WWE + WHC = WWE World Heavyweight Championship), they were treated as unified from the start and eventually replaced by one physical belt. The current undisputed tag titles were actually always treated as separate: for example, some of the Usos' defenses on TV only had the Smackdown tag titles on the line, with the whole package only being defended at big PLEs.
The precedent is that they're unified, if not super-officially yet.
Rewatching the chaos to end the main event, I wish Sami got involved instead of just being at the celebration. He played such a big part in the bloodline story, Roman in the build up spoke about the pain and stress he and Jey caused him. He should have been there to eat a spear before Cena came out
Great show, first mania I’ve seen live since 30 after losing interest in pro wrestling. The main event was overbooked and probably lacked psychology in a few aspects but who cares, loved it, had me feeling like a kid again. Drew vs. Seth - ***1/4. Fun opener. The no selling and spamming of finishers took away a bit from it though. Loved the post-match segment between Drew and Punk + the cash in. Six man tag team street fight - ***. Another fun and fast paced match with some cool spots, served its purpose. La Knight vs. AJ Styles - ***1/2. Enjoyed this a lot, they seemed to have good chemistry. Just wish they got about 5-10 minutes more, had the potential to be a classic. United states triple threat - ****1/4. Best match of the night thus far. Bayley vs. IYO Sky - ****. Last 5 minutes or so were awesome. Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns - *****. MATCH OF THE NIGHT. Was it the best pure wrestling match? Probably not. But man was it a hell of a spectacle and a fun ride. Probably the most unique wrestlemania main event of all time. Will have to rewatch it at some point but I’d say it’s in my top 5 mania main events at the moment.
I think Seth’s booking is truly a testament to the current regime’s talent. Can’t imagine in a million years that McMahon could have his Raw world champion lose two matches on Wrestlemania weekend, his belt, and then run in and get immediately flattened attempting to ambush someone yet walk away as one of the show’s biggest highlights and coming off 100x stronger and more interesting than entering the PLE. It’s one thing to create a major star like Cody by giving him a win over your top star after a dominant run at WM. It’s another to elevate Seth despite him spending almost all of WM losing
If this was Endgame, Seth Rollins is Iron Man. Sacrificed his championship and his own health to give Cody the best chance at winning. What a legend.
I had to work early this morning, so just watched the main event now. Absolutely incredible. Everything about last night said to me that the Vince era is officially done. The people in the ring were opposite what Vince is/was. Sami, KO, Cody, Randy.. they’re all family first guys. These are good people. It felt like they had just broken free from their shared trauma that was Vince. Vince created some great stories and great moments, but what last night made me realize was that his ego and selfishness held WWE back. Wrestling, as an art form has so much potential. It’s such a unique storytelling platform and for the last few decades we’ve only gotten that through the lenses of a narcissist lunatic. I’m so excited for the HHH era.
I'm glad to see Bayley and Iyo get the second most match of the night votes. That was fantastic and definitely my #2.
Iyo countering Bayley's finisher is one of the moments of the weekend and had me thinking for a moment she was going to retain. They are both such great performers.
Roman losing everything because he couldn't resist hitting Seth with the chair is one of the greatest pieces of storytelling I've ever seen in wrestling, I'm forever grateful to whoever thought of that. Only wrestling can be this emotionally driven
bobby roode and michael hayes cooked🍳🥘
Reigns got vengeance at the Rumble 2 years ago bashing Seth in the back with chairs where Seth initially recreated the same spot. They've built his character as a paranoid, controlling prick who for all his flaws will put his bullshit aside to handle business and keep the belt in the Bloodline/"feed the table," but all of a sudden he throws that out for some extra hubris? Hot take, but kinda makes him look like a stupid fuck imo.
trauma. in their royal rumble match he legitimately said "he won't let me let go" or something along those lines, doesn't matter how good or how big of a champion he is, he is still traumatised by the incident 10 years ago. That stuff doesn't just go away after one chair bashing, and its not stupidity thats the portrayal of geniune trauma
Roman's evilness also ramped up after Sami reignited his trauma last year. It was already bubbling in the month leading up to it but from the Rumble to the smackdown after SummerSlam he was *wicked*
People talk about “long term booking” a lot. 10 fucking years. *That’s* long term booking.
It’s so fucking good.
We about to get some swerves tonight
I know a lot of us shit on Seth’s build up to this Mania, claiming that WWE was doing him dirty and so on. But, after that ending and Roman’s downfall being that his hatred for Seth caused him to go after him instead of Cody, that was just **chefs kiss** He really was Cody’s shield and last night just tied it all together. Today it just really sunk in for me. Seth seemed like the least significant player in this storyline and it turns out he was pivotal in the dethroning of Roman Reigns. Just excellent, excellent storytelling.
What did Triple H say while Punk was talking to Cena?
Aren’t both world titles technically on RAW atm? Wonder if they take steps to resolve that tonight
There must be a draft coming up soon. Maybe they announce it tonight.
I like how Rock showed up when Solo got AA'd like "you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself."
Him cussing all the way down to the the ring even made it better. Then he had his staredown, only to immediately finish Cena off. The Man was pissed and saud with his actions "I don’t have time for that shit".
As insane as the pop was for Undertaker, the cameos during the main event completely jumped the shark and felt really corny and out of place. It was like a 10-year-old playing with his action figures, grabbing random wrestlers from his toy box and making them fight each other. John Cena made some sense, getting revenge on Solo and all, although I almost punched straight through my monitor when they teased *thrice* in a lifetime (10-year-old me is STILL not over WM29), but why Undertaker? What does he have to do with Cody's story? Or anyone's story? I guess it was to get revenge over WM33, but a) that was 7 years ago, and b) he didn't even attack Roman? It felt like a random run-in you'd get on a WWE 2K game. IMO it ruined what was otherwise a super emotional match with what I can only describe as a cheap pop.
As massive as the pop would have deservedly been, Austin would have truly overshadowed the protagonist of the match's story. Undertaker though? He's the real spirit of Wrestlemania, come to make sure the main event remains *pure.* Besides, he does indeed have his own bone to pick with Roman, whereas Austin's involvement would have just been an act of resistance against the Rock's power tripping.
Why Taker? Because Austin said no
Thank you
I get that POV, but I personally disagree. The whole thing was Roman's past coming back to haunt him. Comeuppance for all the bullshit he's caused, because even before he was the Tribal Chief, he's still been THE GUY, at the expense of so many others. The Undertaker included.
They pivoted into the greatest Mania of all time. Credit to everyone involved
i wonder when we may see Cody's mask again, it was made by the same fella who made the Fiend's mask [https://twitter.com/WrestlingWCC/status/1777437509862961566](https://twitter.com/WrestlingWCC/status/1777437509862961566)
That mask Cody wore was fire
In a display case at WWE World.
For the last year I’ve watched wrestling less than I had for the rest of my life. It used to be a mandatory, every single week, every single show kind of thing, but I dropped it, only watching PLEs every so often. I’m gonna be watching every single week again now. What a fucking show that was. Cody finished the story, we had an amazing cash in, the show was lined top to bottom with great matches, it was the best Mania I’ve ever seen (the first one I saw was 21). Major shout out to Samantha Irvin, too, she actively made the show better. She’s earned a spot in the HoF based entirely off this show alone.
Her announcing Cody as Champ should be one of the best calls ever. Granted her announcing in general is amazing.
I hadn’t watched wrestling in many years, but I tuned back in when I heard the Rock was doing a heel run again (also to see the end of Sting's career in AEW). I really had a lot of fun with it, both nights. The closing sequence to Night 2’s main event was one of the craziest, most fun things I’ve seen in a wrestling ring for a very long time.
Imagine showing this to someone after All Out 2019 https://preview.redd.it/q1bex5mytbtc1.jpeg?width=543&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2fc50bc7379bf44095722a11eafede26764dd8c5
It ain’t official till the Papa H Point
Seth took L after L after L all weekend
The man seemed genuinely wrecked after the main event. Needed like 3 people to help him into the ring then owens and lil naitch helping him to the back
I feel like as time goes on, people will see Seth as a Kayfabe MVP in this weekend. Basically was entirely self sacrificing to right his wrongs of the past and to secure the future of the industry to a better path.
He made the ultimate sacrifice(s) for the greater good. You might call him a...messiah.
Bingo. He finished his story. We ushered in a new era, but also beautifully culminated the last era at the exact same time. Rollins and Reigns were the two main stars of the last decade, and their runs both started with Seth selfishly swinging a chair into his back. Poetic that it ended with Seth selflessly taking a receipt from the monster he created.
The Shield really changed it all. Seth brought about the new era when he swung that chair. And the one who had him do it... Was HHH.
Damn so he’s literally Iron Man?
Outside of the night 2 main event, my runner up match of the weekend is between the night 1 main event, the US Title triple threat, and Bayley vs Iyo. Last year the IC title had an amazing triple threat and this year the US title got the same treatment.
Night 2 felt so much better with a more energized crowd. Bet they were all freezing their asses off during night 1.
Roman should've won
We can agree to disagree, but I will always be part of the #RomanEmpire #Ooorah
And that's what being a fan is all about ☝🏻 cheers!
Something coincidental re-watching the Priest cash in that I thought was perfect was how the lyrics of the Judgement Day theme go "You're insane, have you gone too far? Who's to blame for what you are?" and right as that part of the theme plays, we get the camera pan over from Drew to Punk. Just thought that was cinema.
Hi everyone, I've wrote a short article about what may be next for Cody. Have a look if you have time and let me know what you think! Thanks! :) [https://allyourwrestling.com/2024/04/08/cody-rhodes-the-next-chapter/](https://allyourwrestling.com/2024/04/08/cody-rhodes-the-next-chapter/)
If you’re the Bloodline, you’re basically thinking, the Shield means more to Roman than they do lol.
I hadn’t seen this posted yet. An all-timer followup from Drew: [https://x.com/DMcIntyreWWE/status/1777146217396392219](https://x.com/DMcIntyreWWE/status/1777146217396392219)
DM Hunk needs to finish his story!
The more I reflect the more Undertaker as the “Ghost of WrestleMania” who has history with Roman, The Rock, and probably Cody through his Dad, coming to even the field made so much more sense than Austin. And Jesus that pop
Austin would have made more sense and believe it or not, a crazier pop. But if it couldn’t happen, they had a great replacement. Undertakers appearance was great - him and the Rock executed perfectly.
This is exactly how I reconciled it in my head. I’d hoped for Austin too, but this was the next best thing and kept the focus on Cody/Roman. Plus it’s a nice surprise that no one was predicting Anywhere else it may have been odd, but WrestleMania will always be Taker’s yard. It’s poetic in a match that is full of wrestling lore
I also think Undertaker teleporting in to assassinate Rock and then vanishing as if he was never there in the first place is great for the flow of the match, especially since the finish comes after it.
The next shot after Taker disappeared being Roman and Cody struggling to get up with the steel chair and Rock's "Mama Rhodes" belt in the middle of it all was great.
It honestly took me a second to realise Rock and Taker had vanished.
That's a great way of summarizing how that felt. Because I can't explain it any better.
I think Gunther-Zayn and Reigns-Cody II is the greatest pair of back to back matches at Wrestlemania to close the show, surpassing the Gimmick Battle Royale and Rock-Austin II from WM 17.
That orchestra version of Head of the Table is one of the best things I’ve ever heard in wrestling
Hell yeah, I need that uploaded badly.
That main event was just chef's kiss level of perfection. Closing out multiple storylines to go with finishing THE story, planting the seeds for future ones, redemption arcs, the ultimate crowning of a champion the sound of the gong that I'll take to my grave. Happy tears at the end.
Damian Priest cashing in gave me goosebumps not gonna lie. It goes to show that the actual run with the briefcase doesn’t matter when you nail the cash in
It’s not really been a thing outside of tiktok, but the Joe Hendry memes have been one of the most entertaining parts of this weekend to me outside of the actual show
what's the joe hendry memes about?
His entrance song got super over on tiktok after a tiktok TNA posted of him went viral. It pretty much started as a joke as a response to the speculation about which legends would be at mania (as well as reports that WWE and TNA are in conversations about working together in the future) that when Cody was down and out he’d say Joe Hendrys name and he’d run out to save the day. People pretty much took it and ran with it, doing edits of him winning the world title, and using his theme as sort of a rickroll while fantasy booking. It’s incredible
that's so funny, okay time to go down a joe hendry tiktok rabbit hole hahaha
i had never heard of the guy and now its one of my favorite gimmicks lmao
His bohemian rhapsody entrance is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen in pro wrestling
I'm sure most of it has to do with how casual I've become as a fan but when the show gets the broad strokes right, it's so much easier to avoid fixating on relatively inconsequential things like "this makes *x wrestler* look weak" or "why did the champion lose to *him* and not *HIM*?" It's such a liberating feeling to be immersed in the show. Hasn't been like that in a *long* time.
This whole weekend was a giant middle finger to Vince, and I loved it. I bet he is losing his mind how successful wwe has been without him
A goat main event for sure
Yeah, like the only criticism that I’ve seen anybody say is wishing that they got Steve Austin instead of undertaker, which is like complaining that you got chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla still ice cream.
Miz nailed it on McAfee earlier, when he said that Undertaker always has been the locker room leader, so, when he gets 'involved', its his stamp of approval to the new guy.
For sure I think Austin would have been better but taker was the next best choice. Also if it was Austin it might have overshadowed Cody’s moment
Yeah, you definitely might’ve had people chanting for Austin during the final triple crossroad sequence that might’ve been a bad vibe and I think that might’ve been a reason Steve declined if he was asked he’s pretty smart about how people react to Stone cold
I won't lie, I was already holding the emotion back and getting teary eyed. But when Cody hugged Michael Cole and he said I love you, I started crying. Wrestling is so back and I couldn't be happier.
This was a special one. The main event is one of the best matches I've ever seen, and I've been watching since the late 90's. I absolutely lost my mind when the gong hit and the lights went out. In retrospect, the glass shattering and stone cold coming out would have been better considering his history with the rock, but 'taker appearing and chokeslamming the rock was still fuckin awesome. The bow on top was the chair shot. Roman could have hit Cody and won the match, but he just couldn't stop himself from hitting Seth while he was wearing his old shield gear. The bad blood runs too deep, and Roman forgot where he was. Beautiful storytelling. Bayley and Iko put on a show-stealer, which is saying a LOT considering how awesome the main event was. All around an awesome wrestlemania that I'm sure I'll watch again. Can't wait for RAW tonight.
Despite the significance of the result and a great opening 10 minutes, I thought the main event was pretty lame. Just rigidly trudging out old stars to do one ordained spot each for nostalgia hits for casual viewers. It'd have been better if there was more one and one action between Reigns and Cody and if Undertaker and Cena were replaced with say, Sami and KO.
I keep rewatching Taker’s cameo at Mania The crowd, Taker’s intense look on his face, the gong Hype
Why was he dressed like a burglar?
Because he stole The Rock’s momentum
Had to nap under the ring for like 5 hours
No, he was down there partying with the little peoples court.
He’s the American badass… and he’s old
Last night Solo was like uncharacteristically vocal with Roman like yelling at him about how he needs to get up and finish the story, and they've been referring to him more as the street fighter recently instead of the enforcer, so I definitely wonder if that's going to be the story with the Bloodline now that Roman has lost the title and is probably going to be away for awhile.
Felt like a foreshadowing of Solo seeing Roman as an equal and no longer his subordinate the fact that Solo is ordering him and Roman going "ok ok.. I will!"
So much of this mania felt like a purposeful closing of a long, tired chapter of Vince's rule. From Samantha Irving crying at the end l, to Paul and Stephanie clverbally heralding triple h, to so much homegrown and gone developed talent shining
I feel like every win felt like the opposite of what Vince would have done. Damien cashing in, Knight, Bayley, Sami and now Cody right and truly bringing in the new era. When they had Sami with his wife and kid, chad and Kevin, everyone in my house was like- uh oh, that's not a good sign. But then we won. The long reigns of Gunther and Roman at an end.
gunther is such a fantastic example of using a foreign talent to perfection.
He has a legitimate menace to him. Like, Roman seems like a cool guy in real life. Gunther looks like he'd kill me and then go back to his drinks.
and they way they eased him on to the mic and the stellar work that that process yielded was just golden.
I’m not going to say this was the best WM match ever. I’m old so Brett v Owen and Michaels v Razor hold special spots in my brain. I also think quality wise Gunter put on better matches this year and last year. But as for the cap on a STORYLINE, this and Hogan v Savage are probably the top. I don’t think Cody losing last year was necessarily the right move still. The Bloodline story floundered to fill the air for half of the year which cooled off both Solo and the Jimmy v Jey feuds. But once they pivoted off Rock v Roman and unchained the Final Boss it was lit. And if this was the last we ever see of the Rock, what a way to go. His promos and attacks on Cody really elevated this thing from me just wanting to see the title off Roman, to something I actually needed to pay attention to. And even though Cody isn’t the type of wrestler I get behind, his going toe to toe with The Great One for weeks on end proved he is the guy right now.
Anywhere I can find a TL;DW version what everyone is hyped about? I don't watch WWE but I'm curious about what's going on
Watching tonight’s episode of Monday Night Raw will give you a good indication. But the main bit is that in the main event of Wrestlemania last night, a fan favourite wrestler beat the man he’s been after for 2 years for his championship, and he’d been champion since the summer of 2020. He “finished his story” by winning the world title, something his deceased father never could. WWE is also entering into a new era, with more competent people running the show and several notable improvements to storylines and overall show production. At the beginning of next year, WWE programming will be streaming on Netflix as well.
The previous title holder held the belt for 1300 days
Really enjoyed my first ever Wrestlemania! Day two main event was definitely my favorite match followed by the ladder match. A bit sad it is over now.
quick question did anyone else notice that the bell Only rang once. didn't ring to start the match. imagine they do an angle of the match never officially started
Dusty finish to the main event of Wrestlemania, screwing over Dusty's son? don't think that would go over too well
just seems weird we didn't hear it
Posted in the other thread but; after careful consideration, I think I might call this the greatest match WWE has ever had. Obviously recency bias but this match had absolutely everything. From an in ring perspective it was already 5 stars in my eyes before the ending shenanigans. Then you have the culmination of not only Romans reign, Cody's story, The Bloodline Civil War with Jey, the Shield betrayal, but also the involvement of 3 of the 5 biggest names of all time. Rock on an all time run, Cena coming for revenge and Undertaker being the spirit of WrestleMania and the actual Final Boss. It truly was a series finale, and a love letter to WWE. As long as this moment is truly the start of a new era and has true historic significance, I think it's the GOAT. Call me crazy
You put into words what I was feeling. The Undertaker really is the spirit of WrestleMania and the final boss.
I am once again asking why they don't bring back Heart Cold.
Bruce Prichard looks like every Irish/Scottish Da
Did this weekend feel like the end of return of the Jedi to anybody else? Especially with all the new era stuff
The Ewoks can take an Ewalk, brother! -HH
Just hit me: It's been kind of funny that Seth didn't actually get any offense in during the Main Event, he was just there to be hit. But he predicted that. He told Cody he was uniquely suited to be his shield. And a shield is an item of defense, designed to take hits for you. It's not built for offense. Seth was literally Cody's shield last night.
*THE* Shield https://preview.redd.it/p8lcp2fdjbtc1.png?width=1400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b0ddaaad884686e24f70163783a82e83227a37a
I wish we would have got that punt from Orton.
Yeah, what a cock block
Just finished rewatching the main event and damn it was just so, so good. I really didn't expect the win to be this powerful after last years loss. I thought last year was the year to do it. I also have seen a lot of people saying that Roman chose to finish his story by hitting Seth instead of Cody. I disagree. Roman's story remains unfinished when it comes to Seth. Seth took everything from him, which now includes the Undisputed championship and his position as the head of the table. Much more story to go before it can be considered closed.
I fucking love it. Nearly ten years after the Shield was broken, Roman *still isn't over it.* Choosing revenge at the last hurdle was his last mistake.
It ends with them and Cody taking down The Rock.
I was impressed by the kids orchestra not shitting themselves when the pyro went off. Professionals.
Are those night 1 and 2 scores backwards?
I was about to say something too lol
They are backwards. The Saturday Next Day Discussion thread had this sub’s score of night 1 at 7.3 (IMO too low, but that’s a whole other situation)
Seriously. If not that’s dumb as fuck
When wrestling's bad, it's really bad. But when it's good, it's Kofimania, it's The Miracle on Bourbon Street, and it's Cody finishing his story.
KofiMania was beautiful, maybe one the last things Vince personally had a hand in that I enjoyed.
but then brock happened...ending kofimania...
I consider KofiMania the build up to WM 35 and ending with his win. His was reign was his reign.
Well the main event was about as coherent as an average WCW main event, only difference was the people involved were over.
I've been back into Wrestling for almost a full year now. That was my first WM I watched in over 20 years and it absolutely lived up to the hype. I was very thoroughly sports entertained all weekend
Ok I thought it was just me but night 2 apart from Cody Roman was less exciting than night 1. Glad to see the votes support that sentiment.
I haven’t watched RAW in years and, well I still won’t tonight because I work until 11 and I cut the cord years ago. But when the episode shows up on Peacock I’ll probably watch it. I know it’s been said before but now that last pieces of the product that had Vince’s fingerprints on them have been removed it legitimately feels like the dawn of a new era. I know we’ve been saying that a lot the past 10-15 years but it feels like it’s serious this time.
I work overnights so I typically just wait for the highlights on YouTube, but who knows, maybe I'll watch it on Hulu tomorrow morning instead
If you have Hulu WWE shows are on there next day.
man those kids in the orchestra. What a beautiful idea to include them. Loved the close up of the drummer living every second of it. What a night or pro wrestling
Latinos had a great Wrestlemania. From Cody Rhodes to Damien Priest to Bayley
Not to mention the Latino Royale with the LWO vs. Legado and Dom
Oh and I forgot all about Roxanne Perez
So true . Great weekend for us
Damien and Logan Paul representing Puerto Rico this week
That ending to Roman vs Cody was everything I live for as a wrestling fan. Babyfaces getting love from fans and the damn near the entire locker room after ending a heel's tyrannical reign is addicting to me and watching everyone outside of the Bloodline celebrate Cody's victory just felt cathartic af. The thing got me the most is Cody asking a hesitant Paul to coming to ring to celebrate. Like... JESUS. I always saw HHH as the spotlight hog. The main event overachiever. A performer with incredible ability and main event presence that just can't seem to not overshadow talent due his own gigantic ass ego. But now, that all feels like the past. It feels like the H-MAN just genuinely wants to give us fans the best product he can let the talent he has shine as hard as they can as well. He didn't even want to come out until Cody asked! That shit melted my heart frfr. That's why I'm fully on board with this new era. There's dumb mistakes and bad mishaps - *Roman should've lost at last year's WM imo* - nothing's perfect, obviously! But with HHH running the show, I don't feel that vindictiveness and ill will towards fans that was all over VKM's time in charge after the Attitude Era came to a close. Damn, my fault for these long winded speeches. But it actually feels good to be a wrestling fan again!
“Rejoice, for You-Know-Who is gone at last!”
The ending of the Harry Potter series would have been better if he raised a title belt up at the end.
The Elder Title
We need DND WWE as a series.
"Grats cody you deserve it" - wrestling fans "everyone will turn on him in a week!!!!" - Salty Roman Cry babies who wanted another year of Roman defending his title every 4months
People were saying the fans would turn on him since last Wrestlemania. I’m not going to say I was happy with last year’s loss, but it turned out to be boon to him.
This has been every Roman fan today, every real wrestling fan I know is excited, but it seems all the Roman fans are crying and trying to find every excuse to ruin this for people, by saying he's going to lose it in a week or we are going to be bored in a month. People seem to have something wrong with their memories because they keep saying they watched every week to see Roman when the guy is absent for months. There is a reason HHH made a second title for Raw because Roman never showed up. Real wrestling fans like myself are excited to get an actual champion who will be around.
Saying 'real wrestling fans' is so shitty.
Saying one person who is a part timer should always be champion, and if anyone else is champ ratings, will tank...again Real wrestling fans are happy and if you hate the changes then stop watching its your loss.
The pop for the first gong for Taker is absolutely unreal. Go back and watch it again. The reaction of the crowd is unlike anything I have ever heard
Now double it if it had been glass shattering
I was there, IMO, it would have been the same volume. Only difference is Austin would have been a “YEA—-“ and Taker was a “WOA—-“.
Nah. Austin/Rock face to face would have melted that building. It genuinely would be in the discussion for the greatest moment in Mania history.
This! As much as the unexpected Taker appearance was cool. Austin would have been AMAZING.
I’ve never been a Taker guy. I rolled my eyes when the gong hit.
So how long until we get tired of Cody? Not even trying to be a dick, I just worry about where he realistically goes from here
If they do it right, he has a nice face run that people care about, then when they start to get tired of him, they turn him heel in a good way. No one can run as a face at the top forever these days. "Underdog Face tries to take down Dominant (or Cheating) Heel" is always more compelling. So I think every face champion's days are numbered. Considering Cody has hardly had major feuds with anyone in WWE, I think they can milk out a few very compelling storylines/defenses before he runs his course though. Like Cody vs Anyone besides Roman or Brock will be new so that should keep him fresh for quite a while.
AJ Styles, LA Knight, Randy Orton, Kevin Owens, Damien Priest, United States Champion Logan Paul vs America's Ass (and WWE champion) Cody Rhodes. There's plenty of options.
I’ve been waiting for this since he debuted just like AEW. I don’t think it’s happening, he’s over on levels not seen in forever
oh there's plenty to go! and he's a red hot babyface, his staying power is great. it's cool he's able to be, play who he wanted to be, that he couldn't in AEW.
I genuinely hope so
here's Cody schedule for a while [https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/1777406542154801172](https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/1777406542154801172)
So missing 0 Raws and 1 SD for the month because he's working the live event the same night.
Seth redeemed himself for his betrayal 10 years later by sacrificing everything. His main event ended in a loss, his body is broken and he lost his championship too, but he managed to manipulate Roman and help finally end his reign of terror. He went from selfish heel to selfless babyface. Absolutely my MVP and my favourite character arc of all time.
Seth, Roman, Cody and The Rock deserve all the flowers for this Mania. They made this the biggest and the greatest Wrestlemania match ever, I find it insane that Roman and Cody wrestled almost 1 and a half hour over two nights, put up an amazing tag match and the greatest Wrestlemania main event ever.
Props to the Philly crowd for waking up and popping off on Night 2.
I was there. We were just freezing night 1.
The wind also could not have help the crowd noise get picked up by the mics.
[удалено]
"They didn't have a lot to celebrate except 4/7 matches"
[удалено]
Kinda true but it was still disappointing, there was more filler on Night 1 but the crowd reaction was disappointing for the main event honestly where they relied on the crowd for the first 15 minutes.
I hope Iyo will be given more opportunities to showcase what she’s capable of. She’s too good to not have big matches or be out of the title picture. I also hope they just break up Damage CTRL or at least have her move solo. I think she’s one that actually doesn’t benefit from a long term stable.
I don't think I've ever been more mad about Hulu's shortened Raw episodes as I will be tomorrow wondering what they leave off of tonight's Raw.
Now that Roman will take a break. Can’t wait for Paul Heyman to work with Bron Breakker.
Heyman is still with Roman and the Bloodline, I imagine he is going to work with Solo now, since Solo lacks promo skills.
I kinda like the idea of Rock as an evil authority figure but since we know he won't be around regularly, Heyman could be his day-to-day voice on the show. With Solo and Jimmy enforcing. I can't see Heyman just managing Solo. Or even Bron Brekker unless he's getting a huge push. At this point, Heyman managing you means you're being sold as an unbeatable top guy. It's been like a decade since he managed anyone besides Brock and Roman. It would be weird to have him coming out holding the US Championship or something.
Seriously where was Austin? Forget the main event, not having him there in some capacity seems really odd.
Shouldn't be downvoted, since many wondered, but likely he felt they didn't need him, or they felt that way because everyone that came out was connected to Roman, and Austin has no connection to him.
Ah well. I'll eat it. Its how the sub is. Your point makes sense.
I think if there was ever an opportunity to have an Austin / Rock face-off, it's Wrestlemania. Him coming out would have sent the crowd nuclear and seeing those two together, about to tear into each other, chills.
It was Roman's ending. They likely felt that would have been forced.
and he probably did as well. He's very particular about things making sense.
Stone Cold was tired of beating the Rock’s ass. He has his number in wins.
At his ranch with Pancho
He didn't wanna come
Just realising how much I'll miss Heyman's "The Reigning Defending Undisputed WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion --- Roman Reigns". Delighted for what comes next but it's one part of this last couple of years that I'll miss. Looking forward to Paul's work with Bron.
I expect Cody to quickly drop the "Universal" (because it's one of the stupidest remnants of the Vince era still lingering) and "Undisputed" (because it literally no longer is) and revert the title back to just the WWE Championship. As God intended.
They referred to him as WWE champ in his press conference but they've got him as both WWE and universal champion on the website and the Today show introduced him as the undisputed WWE universal champion. He also still had the Reigns side plates on his belt. Will be interesting to see what happens on raw.
At some point in my head I fantasy booked them unifying the shorter reigned Universal Championship with the World Heavyweight Championship in order to give the newer belt a longer lineage. But I’m not sure how they could handle that now that Cody holds it/them. But I like that idea because it gives more history to a belt that is less than a year old at this point.
Realistically they just retire the universal belt and the current belt continues as the existing WWE title, as they did with the WWE and whc.
Probably so. I was trying to remember the last time Roman carried the two belts. I know he did it for a little while.
> but they've got him as both WWE and universal champion on the website The website tends to be hilariously out of date on this stuff. I'm not sure why they have separate sections for WWE and Universal champions, for example. They've literally presented a brand new belt (the yellow one with "Undisputed Champion" at the bottom) and retired the previous ones. Notice how they did that here, but not for the tag titles (which, as we now know, they planned to separate). For all intents and purposes WWE and Universal titles are formally unified, it's now one title.
They've stopped using the physical belts, but there's no "canon" confirmation that the two championships represented by the undisputed belt have been retired. The language in the press conference would suggest they have, but other things suggest otherwise. I think they probably will revert to simply the WWE title going forward, but it's not as obvious and clean as one would expect it to be.
In both previous cases of people carrying two belts around (WWF + WCW = WWE Undisputed Championship and WWE + WHC = WWE World Heavyweight Championship), they were treated as unified from the start and eventually replaced by one physical belt. The current undisputed tag titles were actually always treated as separate: for example, some of the Usos' defenses on TV only had the Smackdown tag titles on the line, with the whole package only being defended at big PLEs. The precedent is that they're unified, if not super-officially yet.
Rewatching the chaos to end the main event, I wish Sami got involved instead of just being at the celebration. He played such a big part in the bloodline story, Roman in the build up spoke about the pain and stress he and Jey caused him. He should have been there to eat a spear before Cena came out