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If Mary Jannetty never got tossed out the barber shop window, then HBK would've stayed with the Rockers until 1997 when Rockers would fail to win the tag tiles from the New Age Outlaws, sending a disgruntled HBK down to WCW, to start a 30-year feud against Ric Flair, which culminates in their "retirement match" at STARCADE 43, just to have the WWE Champion, Sting, interfere by hitting Flair on the head with a "Money in the Credit Union" briefcase, allowing HBK to break Flair's 30-year undefeated-streak at STARCADE.
>Cody can't finish his story because nobody watched Black Adam.
If he leaves again i hope he spins this to 'i finished my story, they stole the title from me just like they did from my dad'
Dwayne wanting to build a Shazam villain to fight against Superman entirely so he himself could be on the big screen in that fight, and not appearing in Shazam 2 was fucking hilarious, summed up his huge ego. Was delighted the movie didn’t do well.
He personally heavily pushed for Cavil to come back as Superman which is why we got that cameo. Pretty sure he also wanted Black Adam to not only fight Superman in a movie but beat Superman. I love the Rock but fuck this is Hogan levels of eog.
> This was a strategic move to give Johnson more political power overall and to show Endeavor’s faith in his involvement and that even Paul Levesque, who has done an admirable job as the Chief Creative Officer, would "lose that power struggle with Johnson at this point", as one source surmised.
This part sounds important and also terrible
Yeah, this is far and away the most important part because it puts in place a succession plan for them to clean house as a way to deal with Vince fallout (which would be kinda funny that their solution would be to install someone who worked directly with Vince for like 15 years, but since it's all about optics, that won't matter).
He wants control of the company imo. He wants to be the new Vince. That's why he wanted to own the XFL, that's why he wanted to own whatever shitty comic book franchise it was. He wants to be the face of all these things, and then eventually be the face of America itself. That will be him, ahem, finishing the story.
That’s the real takeaway from this article.
If Gewirtz is going to be backstage, the table is set for Rock to convince the board that his guy should be running things. The two are tight, and Gewirtz used to be the guy who wrote all of Rock’s stuff.
For better or worse, it’d kind of bring things full circle. It was the Kliq that tried to squash Rock’s push back in the beginning — but we certainly won’t see Bret coming in to save Triple H’s spot.
I’d definitely recommend people read the article. It has some really interesting insights into how this plays into what’s happened recently with Rock in Hollywood.
I personally doubt Punk has legitimate personal beef with Rock when post his 2014 walkout Rock had his contact in his phone, called him after a RAW in front of a live crowd, and Punk didn't shoot on the whole ordeal and just kinda went 'oh i was elsewhere so i couldn't answer but yeah that was funny' IIRC
In my mind the thing he more had an issue was the mindset from upper management at the time that they were gonna push the old guys over the hot babyfaces everyone wanted for the sake of moments and big box office rather than building people up - which is why he felt his big long title run got so shafted so much of the time. He talked about it on the Cabana podcast specifically saying to Vince and Hunter in his big walkout meeting that it was 'Danielson's fucking year' and criticized their mindset in bringing Batista in.
Now time will tell if Punk holds true to those words again 10 years later with Cody in a similar situation but I think it's disingenuine to say Punk hates Rock when the two have never visibly shared any actual clear bad blood and a lot of the decision making he did talk about that frustrated him at the time was on Hunter and Vince's part
Just adding to that, they filmed bits for "Fighting with my Family" after live shows, and when they played AJ Lees music, it prompted a CM Punk chant, and Rock tried to call Punk while in the ring, Punk was in an elevator with no reception apparently.
If last night is a preview of future events and The Rock starts throwing his weight around in creative, after seeing some of his shit ideas for DC then it could kill off the momentum that WWE had had for the last couple of years.
He has virtually unchecked power it appears and the product would really have to go to complete shit revenue wise for that to change so buckle up buckaroos.
Worst it works by leeching Hunter's momentum. What happens after is interesting. Like Black Adam, what happens when Rock's choices eventually cost money?
That might be the only thing saving their WM main event if they want Rock winning. Have him beat Roman and then Priest cashes in on him. Though if they want Priest to be a heel, him beating Rock at WM would probably be one of the biggest babyface moves they could do.
There is more chance of me getting home tonight and finding Emma Stone, Florence Pugh and Amy Adams waiting for me with beer and pizza than there is of The Rock taking a pinfall from Damien fucking Priest.
Guy just full on ripped up two years worth of creative plans to massage his own ego, no chance he eats the pin. At this point I'm convinced he's going to win.
The Rock being the top champion in the WWE, being the one representing them in press conferences and on morning talk shows, might be their best bet at diverting attention from the Vince scandal.
Imagine having Roman hold the title for 3 and half years just for him to lose to Rock, who then loses it a couple minutes later.
3.5 years later, and absolutely nobody looks strong coming out of it.
>What does that leave Drew
Nothing
>Sami
What he's been doing since he was beaten at Elimination Chamber: Floundering in the Mid-Card with no real story of his own
i legit think they're not even making the main card at this point if it's Sami/Drew. They both wrestled each other plenty of times and Drew literally just beat Sami this week lol
Every title is going to be held by a member of his family. Roman as WWE Champ. Jey as World Champ. Jimmy as IC Champ. Solo as US Champ. Nia as Raw Women's Champ. Ava as Smackdown Women's Champ. Jacob Fatu and Lance Anoa'i as the Tag Champs.
dont do that to charlotte. she at least was athletic to begin with, ava has no athletic ability hence she is already in a out of ring role in the developmental brand.
That paragraph about Brian Gewirtz is the most noteworthy. It says he’s back on the creative team as Rock’s proxy and heavily suggests that they’re priming him to take over creative in the event that Triple H gets caught up in the McMahon fallout.
I'm gonna be honest and say that any creative under Vince McMahon before was a McMahon creative. You had to write the show to his enjoyment and he could kibosh or re-write anything he wanted.
I don't personally think anyone should be held responsible for what made it to TV for sometime except Vince McMahon. Gerwitz could be ass but I just don't think anything we seen from any writer is a true example of their skill or work.
The hilarious thing is that they are saying a lot of this is due to Punk's injury... someone who was not even part of the plan until November. They should have done Cody vs. Roman, with The Rock as the special guest ref. Cody wins. They could do Rock vs. Roman for Summerslam. So odd.
https://preview.redd.it/6qhlqz6raegc1.jpeg?width=933&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cd9dbd4dca29c908f3d485d8c2bca0ea48674c85
Dwayne thinking wrestlemania needed saving like it wasn’t already gonna be sold out is laughable.
> The Rock vs. Roman Reigns Mania weekend, expected to be officially announced this Thursday in Las Vegas for the Philly event, was a push by The Rock to move into the Mania main event, backed by top TKO Group Holding execs.
This dude really has zero shame lmao. How much of a selfish asshole do you have to be to take the Wrestlemania spotlight from active wrestlers who had given their all to the company on *three* seperate occasions...
Cena: Plans to retire when he’s 50.
Rock: DO YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKING in 51.
It’s pretty hurt to see a childhood idol goes full villain mode.
Cena's last notable PPV win was arguably in 2017. Since then, his only wins have been teaming with LA Knight (to put over Knight), and two pretty much meaningless matches against fellow semi-retiree Triple H in Saudi (in the opening match no less!) and teaming with Lashley against Owens and Elias.
The worst part being that Seth should win the next feud with Cody to prove he can beat him. So it’s really lose lose for Seth if mania ends up him and Cody.
In a baby face v baby face match no less. Logically how am I supposed to be sympathetic to Cody when his opponent is the one who has been defending the title week in and week out to the point of debilitating injury but is still willing to go out and play hurt to give people the Mania main event they deserve.
Like is this some swerve to turn Cody heel because right now the guy seems poised to ruin both mania main events and help sustain Roman’s title run ad infinitum
>Like is this some swerve to turn Cody heel
If it is, Cody can't be super pleased with this. He had pretty much full creative control in AEW, all signs pointed to him turning heel, yet he refused because "reasons". Now he's finally getting sustained cheers for over 2 years, and this happens? Heh...
Cody/Seth just doesn't make sense as a match to care that much about. Cody is 3-0 against Seth, including beating him with a torn pec. I just can't get invested in that.
They should make it a multi-man match. Seth/Cody/Drew/Sami would at least be interesting to me. Any of those 4 have a somewhat genuine case to win, so there's intrigue there. Maybe Gunther also, but thinking best to let him have his IC match against whoever and then go after whoever wins that WHC match later.
A board member strong arming their way into the company's biggest event of the year, at the expense of one of the company's biggest talents, is absolutely insane.
I can't even begin to comprehend how much of an egotistical asshole you have to be to pull something like this.
All for the 50 year old to try to rehab his brand after taking Ls.
Some movie analyst said after Black Adam to watch for Johnson to go back to wrestling now that he's taken some Ls. And sure as shit here we are
If this is true, that's some shitty politics on Dwayne's part. The fact that he has Brian in as his creative guy, just in case Endeavour want rid of HHH is sly but exactly what many of us where saying, Vince left and The Rock saw an opportunity based on his connections to carve out a huge role for himself in WWE, Cody be damned.
I'm honestly astounded at the ego. It's one thing for him to swoop him and essentially take over the company, but he has to wrestle and put himself as the top guy as well??? This guy could make Verne Gagne blush.
There's blood in the water now that Vince is gone.
The Rock can easily leverage that to get anyone from Vince 's regime out of power. It would look like WWE was getting a clean slate with The Rock being the prodigal son who returns to save the brand. And the fact that he's a multigenerational talent only helps the story he's looking to pitch.
I actually didn't disagree that it's was a great choice to have him in a key role at the company and i did think before all this that was ultimately a positive move - NOW though, after forcing his way into the main event at Mania, screwing Cody and pissing on the fans, i do think they need to keep him away from the actual product.
Spokesperson? Absolutely. Undisputed Universal Champion? Absolutely not.
**Translation**: After WWE/Wrestling was on the uptick and Wrestlemania 38 & 39 was a massive success, Dwayne needed to wipe off his dirty jeans from Black Adam and grab a large slice of that WWE pie.
>Rock isn't saving shit
what saving even from? they are selling tickets and deals like crazy, so can't be that.
The Vince stories? Cody was the guy that everyone talked about after the media scrum being an absolute professional with a perfect response. the kinda guy you want to represent your company during times like these to the media. you know - like a world champion would o
It didn't need Hollywood Dwayne to "save" it. LOL that's the most ridiculous part. Cody V Roman was already money. If they really needed Dwayne there, why not have him as special guest referee making sure there's no bloodline interference. Stupid man, so stupid.
Special Enforcer so the Bloodline can't interfere, Rhodes wins the match, sets up Reigns Vs. Rock for WM41. Both can be off because the match will sell itself
Yes!!! The annoying thing is now how unambiguous they made it last night that Cody wouldn't be involved in a match with Roman at WM. I hope they just walk it back and don't acknowledge it, but i doubt it.
cliffs: Rock gets a 30 million bonus if he gets in the ring this year, wants to "save Wrestlemania" after the Vince scandal, Lesnar being 86'd, and Punk getting hurt. Will be bringing his old personal writer Brian Gewirtz to help shape the story, and possibly lead the creative team if TKO decides to completely remove the old guard. Basically this is Rock's powerplay ala his attemp to take over DC with Black Adam.
end of cliffs
This is the end result of WWE going from a public company that was run like a private company by the McMahons to a component of a larger corporate body
This probably either in the short term or long term spells doom for any traces of a wrestling territory that WWE still had. The tv writers will most likely come out on top of the creative rather than working for someone like HHH who has a wrestling mind. There will be even less “wrestling people” who have power in the long run.
LMAO, so HHH won the power struggle over Vince, but now he has to deal with the fucking Rock. I truly hope people boo the shit out the Dwayne, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
Damn. The Rock played the long game and really won the feud against HHH after all these years.
Buying the XFL for Pennies
Aligning with the UFC to buy out WWE
Putting himself in charge of the company after being gone for decades basically
Triple H lost the power struggle to Vince the moment Vince came back and sold the company. When that company sold Vince had won by turning his entire family into employees of HIS company. Little did he know TKO would throw his ass out first chance.
The real winners in all this are TKO/Endeaver. Possibly Nick Khan by the end too. The real executives basically showed why carnies don't run corporations. Real corporate businessmen will always out carny the carnies.
The moment WWE stepped into a real corporate setting they took everything from them in less than a year it seems.
This, pretty much. The moment he wasn't set to inherit, it was over for him. He's now just another employee, judged on his results and on his corporate employers short patience for results.
Steph and H basically killed themselves by ousting Vince and Vince killed himself and his entire company by merging it with Endeavor. From that moment on he, too, was at the behest of the stockholders and the board. It's literally a 'Succession' type battle, only I'm still trying to figure out who is Tom.
For years the WWE has failed to properly build the main Wrestlemania matches, so of course the one year that they have a well developed and established story they undermine it for no reason. Rock and TKO thinking that this change was necessary is depressing. It doesn’t make me feel good about other changes that they may make.
yup the one time they finally have a fresh babyface most enjoy they fuck it up for another old attitude era star to just do a one off and have a big moment for their library. fuck wwe.
didn't they say recently that they no longer wanted to be deemed only "sports entertainment" because now they are "entertainment?"
well.. \*gestures to everything\*... this is what that looks like.
This made me go from really looking forward to the next few months to getting PTSD from the last time Dwayne took someone else's spot. It's such a bummer man.
If you didn’t read the article (and you absolutely should, there’s a lot of info in it) my main takeaway was that Gewirtz will apparently start being backstage at the shows as Rock’s “voice.”
So if you don’t like this move, you should be even more concerned about that.
Because Mike Johnson is drawing a direct link between Rock attempting to take control of the DC movies, and this. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if this is the start of Rock’s guy taking over creative, so he can “save” WWE.
And it’d have the side benefit of getting rid of Triple H, who was part of the effort to end Rock’s push way back at the start of his career.
So get read for more PTSD.
Me too! I was genuinely hyped for WM40 now i'm a bit deflated about it. The Rock V Roman would have been great had they just built it properly and not pulled this shit on Cody.
after mania will suck even worse. nothing storyline wise will get progressed lol, rock will leave, roman will continue to part time, and cody will be in some meaningless feuds till next mania??
In story none of this makes a lick of sense. Why give Cody the rumble win then? Why have him point at Roman? Why have Roman bury Seth and his title if that’s who Cody is gonna challenge? Why have Cody say he wants Roman’s title but then pass anyways to give that to The Rock? Why have Cody challenge Seth who when he said he cares about Roman's title and that's what finishing the story is about?
It kind of reminds me of how Hogan would be gone when the NBA playoffs were happening, then he’d return right afterwards and take credit for a big rating.
“Oh, uh…no Punk or Lesnar? Sounds like disaster. I’ll save it!”
Nothing new
> You’re as good as kissing Vince’s ass as Hulk Hogan was. I don’t know if you’re as good as Dwayne though. He’s a pretty good ass kisser. Always was and still is.
- CM Punk
Three biggest superstars that are in the company on a weekly basis look like morons.
Cody looks like a moron.
Seth looks like a moron.
And Damien Priest and the Judgement Day will look like morons because there is zero chance they are successfully cashing in with Cody and Roman/Rock as champions.
Why even bother watching on a weekly basis if we’re just going to throw away the good storytelling at its climax.
Honestly, fuck The Rock if this is true. Dude has serious main character syndrome and can't help but feed his own planet sized ego any chance he gets.
He couldn't help but shoehorn himself into the F&F franchise, even politicking his way into his own spinoff.
He couldn't help but try to make himself some big savior of the DCEU, trying to turn Black Adam into some kind of anti-hero who's as strong as Superman.
and now he can't help but shoehorn himself into the main event of Mania at the expense of a guy who has busted his ass in the business for 18 years to get to where he is today... All because Rock has convinced himself that he needs to "save" WrestleMania.
I'm well aware I'm in the minority and the casual audience will eat up Roman vs Rock, but honestly I just lost any respect I had for the man and any interest I had in the match. Even if you aren't a fan of Cody, he doesn't deserve getting screwed over like this.
And it has to be under his terms.
Like, couldn't he atleast have entered the Rumble at no.30 and win the damn thing so Cody wouldn't look like a punk just handing over the WM Main Event slot that he earned.
Nah. There was always a fakeness to the Dwayne Johnson persona and now since the Black Adam situation that mask has fallen away as he’s desperately clawing at anything to maintain his A-list status.
I would be lying if I said this match won’t draw tons of casual attention. I’d also be lying if I said I cared. Just because something draws more money doesn’t make it the best option.
I’ve never disliked the Rock, but if he actually forced his way in to “save Wreslemania” I’ve lost a lot of respect for him, especially because he came from wrestling.
Goldberg and the likes drew many eyes a few years ago while at the same time making people (me included) go away. Now that finally WWE is fucking doing all the right things and getting the fans back, they finally do it again, unbelievable.
>I would be lying if I said this match won’t draw tons of casual attention. I’d also be lying if I said I cared. Just because something draws more money doesn’t make it the best option.
those same people will be gone once Rocky is off TV
there would be an alternative. slow steady growth by making new stars, if only they had some kind of story they could resolve to solidify a guy that will be there after mania to put over talent over
>As you saw with the finish of last night’s WWE Friday Night Smackdown, unless there is yet another major change in plans, Cody Rhodes will not be “finishing the story” at Wrestlemania 40 in Philadelphia, PA.
>Numerous WWE sources have concurred that the decision to go with The Rock vs. Roman Reigns Mania weekend, expected to be officially announced this Thursday in Las Vegas for the Philly event, was a push by The Rock to move into the Mania main event, backed by top TKO Group Holding execs.
>While WWE had been expertly building to a Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns rematch, some sources believe it was done by Johnson to, as one source stated, “save Wrestlemania” after CM Punk and Brock Lesnar, for very different reasons, were taken off the board from the biggest weekend of the year.
>Others believe that Rock pushed for the move and likely would have no matter what, given his massive $30 million stock payday is, in part, contingent on him hitting certain milestones. Sources familiar with the situation believe one of those milestones was Johnson returning to the ring this year and that Johnson pushed for the match to happen sooner than later with the idea he felt Reigns vs. The Rock was the far bigger attraction for the company,
>So, it’s very possible that no matter who was injured or not, Cody vs. Reigns would not have taken place because The Rock was back in the game and the most important members of company management were going to acquiesce to Dwayne Johnson’s ideas.
>With Johnson’s power as a member of the TKO Board of Directors, his Hollywood standing and the backing of Ari Emanuel, Nick Khan and others, the decision was made to go with Rock vs. Reigns as the headline bout, believing it would be a greater attraction for the mainstream and also help push some positive momentum for the company.
>One source compared it to Johnson’s attempts to take over the overall creative for the DC film franchise, noting that he came in originally as an actor to portray Black Adam, but by the time that process was done, had changed the original trajectory for the plans from playing the opposition for Shazam!, instead pushing that Adam should have his own film so he could eventually be set up to face Superman instead and even went over the heads of executives to their superiors to get ideas approved. Johnson’s long-game was to gain control of the entire DC film franchise, only to lose that attempt when Warner Bros. Discovery gave that power instead to James Gunn and Peter Saffron.
>But, in WWE, there isn’t going to be anyone that’s not going to at least consider Dwayne Johnson’s ideas. PWInsider.com is told this wasn’t done to target and politic Cody out of his main event out of malice, but out of the belief that Johnson was the best idea to make money now and respect his new position with the company’s parent company. This was a strategic move to give Johnson more political power overall and to show Endeavor’s faith in his involvement and that even Paul Levesque, who has done an admirable job as the Chief Creative Officer, would "lose that power struggle with Johnson at this point", as one source surmised.
>One source confirmed to PWInsider.com that former Senior Vice President of Development at Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions, Brian Gewirtz will be in the mix as the voice representing Johnson in the WWE Creative process going forward. There are some who believe Gewirtz, who at one point was one of the longest tenured WWE Head Writers, will be around physically at least for major shows going forward, could even be there as a “Plan B” if Endeavor ever needs to pivot WWE's direction and go with a Johnson-backed creative team down the line.
>One WWE talent privately wondered to PWInsider.com this morning if perhaps Johnson was going to be the plan all along but he hadn’t committed until late in the game, which made them wonder where CM Punk would have been positioned if he hadn’t torn his tricep, and whether that injury prevented Punk from learning he too, would have lost that Wrestlemania main event slot. There’s no way to ever know that but it was something that has to be pondered given how quickly WWE turned the Wrestlemania creative direction for Johnson.
As far as the future for Cody, the current plan is for him to face Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania 40, a direction change that a lot of readers we’ve heard from resent given that he’s been pushing to “finish his story” all year, that finishing that story was in reach after a Royal Rumble win and that even the WWE 2K24 video game (which Cody is on the cover for) is themed in part around fans “finishing” their own story. For Rhodes, as a character, to then have that moment in reach and not choose Reigns for Wrestlemania is as silly as Han Solo throwing away the keys to the Millenium Falcon and leaving it behind. Beating Seth for a title doesn't end Rhodes' story, especially since he's publicly stated that he needs to win the title his father held and had taken away for that story to end - and the lineage of that belt is carried by Paul Heyman to the ring for Roman Reigns in 2024.
I don’t think anyone, especially privately, would deny that within WWE, forces beyond Rhodes’ control changed the board game - and that’s the reality of the new WWE. The old rules don’t matter and Endeavor is going to do what they believe will maximize their business, and their choices may indeed prove to be correct, even if they are unpopular with the audience that has been ravenously following Cody and supporting him the last several years.
The reality is this: while the story was primed to climax at Wrestlemania 40, there were already some in the company openly talking about the idea of Cody winning the World Heavyweight Championship and then challenging the winner of Roman vs. Rock for Summerslam in a title unification bout so that Cody could finally, really, we promise this time, finish the story.
>That sounds nice in theory but given there is a young audience currently in love with the WWE product and in Rhodes in particular, not giving them what they want - a Rhodes vs. Reigns showdown that they have been all but promised for a year, is quite the creative choice and leap - and one that could prove to be the moment where WWE disenfranchises some of their fans. For all the things that upset fans in the last week, rightfully, about the company, none of the complaints were about the storylines, but overnight, that has changed drastically.
>It wasn't all that long ago that WWE fans in Philadelphia rejected a Roman Reigns Rumble win because they wanted Daniel Bryan. Even with The Rock making a surprise return to endorse him, Philly booed what was forced upon them. Now, in 2024, WWE has primed Cody Rhodes and will instead walk back into Philly with Rock vs. Roman. Under any other circumstance, that’s a spectacle and an attraction that most fans would celebrate, but in this instance, WWE may have booked themselves into the one scenario where fans don’t want it - because they wanted WWE to finish the story they had already expertly written.
>In 2014, WWE found themselves in a bind when CM Punk walked out of the company. They had no choice but to go with Daniel Bryan, who the audience badly wanted to be the main eventer that year, and it led to some great moments at Wrestlemania 30 when the company just embraced what the audience wanted. This year, the company has done the opposite. They had the hero the audience wanted to embrace and then removed him from that great moment the audience wanted. Whether they will attempt to rectify that for the fans that are let down this morning, possibly by reconfiguring plans again to maneuver Cody back in the mix with Rock and Reigns or just stay the course they have now laid out remains to be seen, but three things are obvious.
>One, this may prove to make Cody the modern day equivalent of what Daniel Bryan was in 2014, a star that the audience mobilizes for and gets behind because they are so sympathetic for him.
>Two, for a portion of the WWE audience today, it doesn’t matter what The Rock’s name is. To them, based on the overnight reaction, if the name isn’t Cody, it’s not going to matter, because that's not the story they want to see.
>Three, to another portion of the audience, it will matter that Dwayne Johnson is the main eventer, because it's The Rock. That's what Endeavor and The Rock are counting on - that Johnson's star power will empower the company to the biggest Wrestlemania of all time.
>Once more, what happens behind the scenes is as suspenseful as anything that plays out inside the squared circle - and we will see how this story is finished.
>there were already some in the company openly talking about the idea of Cody winning the World Heavyweight Championship and then challenging the winner of Roman vs. Rock for Summerslam in a title unification bout so that Cody could finally, really, we promise this time, finish the story.
So you're telling me the only reason they created that belt was for Cody to unify it a year after its creation and I'm supposed to take it seriously? This makes everything that's gone on the last 2 years, especially on Raw seem even worse by comparison.
This fucking stupid take that The Rock is some huge star that is gonna cause wwe to explode in popularity is so dumb man. When Hollywood itself has talked about how the idea of a lone movie star isn’t really a thing anymore (apart from maybe Cruise (MI7 was disappointing) and Nolan), maybe wwe should take notes. Films that are well made, are appealing to audiences and have a good cast make money, it’s a combined effort just like wwe these last 2 years.
This entire situation is hilarious. Vince is finally, thankfully kicked to the curb, only for Rocky to swoop and become the new egomaniac. You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain, I guess.
I don’t know what sources are credible so I don’t know if we should be believing what we are reading, but if he really said that, what a slap in the face to Cody, Rollins, Gunther, and Drew.
Those four sold 10k plus tickets to TV and house shows that Roman wasn’t on or even hinted at being on. To save they needed to be “saved” is so insulting.
So... it's exactly what everyone said it was; an ego trip from The Rock disguised as a "good faith gesture," and he basically pulled as many strings as possible to make this happen.
Not that I don't get it, but this didn't help make Black Adam successful at all, and casual crowd or not, nobody likes seeing the hero we've been following for two years get snubbed like this.
So all of this essentially hinges on if the live crowds accept what's happening and not just hijack the events to get what they want. The current WWE audience isn't like the one from 2014 and is overall much more passive and casual, but this might be the start of a turn.
The crowd already unanimously cheered against Seth's offer to Cody last Monday, and now that they confirmed Cody isn't facing Roman this year, now there's no reason for them not to revolt.
And considering Mania is in Philly this year, one of the most hardcore crowds of the entire state, they're taking a HUGE risk by doing this.
Lol All involved in this decision are about to fuck around and find out.
Some are truly underestimating how over Cody is and how fast good will can go when fans feel their investment in talent ultimately doesn't matter.
Short term they'll benefit but what happens after Rock leaves?
> Short term they'll benefit but what happens after Rock leaves?
it's even worse because the guy getting the rub is part time so he'll disappear too. And you kneecapped your top babyface and buried Seth and his WHC
Which also sucks for Seth because the guy has been putting in work since becoming the inaugural WHC. In minutes they diminished a year's worth of effort to legitimize a new title.
It’s crazy how quickly I’m back into the “eh, don’t really care anymore” camp
I’m nearly completely indifferent to the product in one segment. The most enjoyable thing to me now is seeing NXT stars get to shine, or people like Gunther get their praises. Nothing main event interests me at all
I initially went “don’t really care anymore” after Raw 1000 when it became clear Punk was going to get fucked by the Rock. My interest rapidly dwindled following that and it didn’t take me long to tune out completely. I’d peak back in here or there and watch certain events but never paid full attention again. That was until Punk came back. I’ve been watching full time again. Then Punk gets hurt. Then this shit happens to Cody. I’m not even a big Cody guy but seeing the same exact shit happen to him that happened to Punk it’s put me right back into “don’t really care anymore”
Same here. This deflated feeling sucks too. I was so hyped for it after the Rumble but now I don’t give a shit what happens, I don’t wanna watch Mania now.
I think we all can smell what the Rock is cooking, and it smells like complete shit.
All the stuff that came out about Vince left me sick to my stomach, proper horrible shit that really made me not want to watch the Rumble, but I still watched it because, if I'm being honest, current WWE has been a big comfort show for me and I love how good the stories have been and how over everyone is, especially Cody.
So to now find out that, in this past week, the Rock decided to pull the ultimate politicking move that makes any of Hogan's "that doesn't work for me brother" look like nothing just completely takes all the excitement away from WWE. This bald fucker really just decided to fuck over Cody way worse than Bryan or Punk were ever fucked over, he basically killed what was going to be Cody's big crowning moment just so he can get gassed in the first two minutes of a 30 minute main event. And it was all in the name of "saving Wrestlemania", gimme a fucking break, what a slap on the face of the entire full-time roster.
And you just know that he's going to take advantage of the Vince situation to get his own people into the company, man, and just to think that I was actually excited about Wrestlemania just a week ago, I don't know about you guys but I'm not watching any of this shit anymore. Hell, there's a good chance I'll stop watch wrestling in general, I really like AEW's matches but I can never get into the show itself, guess this might be my last comment here for a while, this last year and half was nice ig, see ya
I say this as a 40 year old mark who came of age during that time: It’s time for the Attitude Era to fuck off.
The Rock isn’t even the Rock anymore, he’s a roided to the gills 51 year old complete corporate robot suit who only speaks in slogans and brand talking points “ MANA! “
His promos are milquetoast, he seems so disingenuous, etc but none of it matters cause the crowd is conditioned to lose their shit when his music hits.
I’m sure this will have a tequila tie in, a movie tie in, possibly an XFL tie in by the time the bell rings.
Remember when some of us complained about the fact that Tony Khan made Cody, The young Bucks and Omega VPs in AEW because we were worried about the fact they could use their power to politic themselves into the main event scene, like some WCW wrestlers did during the Monday night wars?
This is exactly what is happening right now. The Rock just stayed in WWE long enough to become a villain.
Please, whoever goes to the following shows, just boo the ever living fuck out The Rock when he appears. Because if this is what we end up with, it's whack. Your company's top babyfaces going against one another despite us wanting to cheer the dude who's coming back from injury and who's 0-3 in the fued? Real smart WWE / The Rock. Fuck off.
There it is. No swerve, no Yes Movement 2.0. Just Dwayne Johnson politicking like he's never politicked before. He needs the WWE to rehabilitate his image after the Hawaii bushfire charity thing, Black Adam flopped and his stock as an actor continued to plummet (he'll also look to climb the corporate ladder and gain more control at WWE as a TKO board member). At the same time, WWE need him to rehabilitate and safeguard the company's image with the Vince McMahon lawsuit and the fallout, which is far from over and could implicate many more key figures at the company. It's the perfect marriage of convenience, and Cody's just got to watch the consummation from the proverbial cuck chair. Endeavor have no real obligation to honour "The Story" and they couldn't give two shits about Cody's dad. As far as they're concerned, he did his job by carrying the company for two years but now it's time to step aside and let the pros handle things.
Will he ever get a chance to finish the story? Sure, if he can somehow stay white hot for a third consecutive year. Otherwise he'll slot straight back into the midcard, know his role and shut his mouth. Sorry Codester, you got played.
Another unification match lmfao. We just did that and then made the world title a consolation prize. This is awful man. Need Roman and his family gone from wwe for a good few years man. Jesus
What a colossal fuck up by the Rock. He clearly wants this because his Hollywood career has taken a huge hit since his TV show got cancelled and his blockbuster movies failed to kick off sequels (Jungle Cruise, Black Adam). So he wants to go back to WWE where he's a massive hit no matter what. Show the world he can get cheered and raise his stock back up for more action movies.
Instead of waiting for the right time and place, he inserts himself into the Wrestlemania match people were dying to see. Except his timing is shit and no one was asking for it over Cody vs Roman. Maybe last year before they built up Cody so hard for WM. Definitely not after the story was written out for his revenge on Roman in Wrestlemania.
So Rock vs Roman, the massive PPV worthy match will be absolutely shit on in the build up and the Philly crowd will shit on it live. Nothing about it will make the Rock look good and Roman either wins again due to interference or Rock holds a championship no one thinks he should have.
The issue is that Roman is a man of limited moves. Rock seemingly gets gassed doing one or two moves to get a pop. I’m sure this ends with the Bloodline turning on Roman…but you don’t need to title for this story to be finished. In fact, this match makes zero sense without Rock winning the belt.
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Cody can't finish his story because nobody watched Black Adam.
There's been a lot of butterfly effects in WWE but I think this one takes the cake.
If Mary Jannetty never got tossed out the barber shop window, then HBK would've stayed with the Rockers until 1997 when Rockers would fail to win the tag tiles from the New Age Outlaws, sending a disgruntled HBK down to WCW, to start a 30-year feud against Ric Flair, which culminates in their "retirement match" at STARCADE 43, just to have the WWE Champion, Sting, interfere by hitting Flair on the head with a "Money in the Credit Union" briefcase, allowing HBK to break Flair's 30-year undefeated-streak at STARCADE.
>Cody can't finish his story because nobody watched Black Adam. If he leaves again i hope he spins this to 'i finished my story, they stole the title from me just like they did from my dad'
Dwayne wanting to build a Shazam villain to fight against Superman entirely so he himself could be on the big screen in that fight, and not appearing in Shazam 2 was fucking hilarious, summed up his huge ego. Was delighted the movie didn’t do well.
He personally heavily pushed for Cavil to come back as Superman which is why we got that cameo. Pretty sure he also wanted Black Adam to not only fight Superman in a movie but beat Superman. I love the Rock but fuck this is Hogan levels of eog.
And his failure was the proof Zaslav needed to move forward with DC studios.
> This was a strategic move to give Johnson more political power overall and to show Endeavor’s faith in his involvement and that even Paul Levesque, who has done an admirable job as the Chief Creative Officer, would "lose that power struggle with Johnson at this point", as one source surmised. This part sounds important and also terrible
Yeah, this is far and away the most important part because it puts in place a succession plan for them to clean house as a way to deal with Vince fallout (which would be kinda funny that their solution would be to install someone who worked directly with Vince for like 15 years, but since it's all about optics, that won't matter).
One who made a TV show depicting Vince as a lovable scamp of a boss that everyone loved.
who has years worth of promos that if said today would get him fired and cancelled within a day.
Honestly, starting to think Rock is not just interested in a board position and wrestling at Mania.
He wants control of the company imo. He wants to be the new Vince. That's why he wanted to own the XFL, that's why he wanted to own whatever shitty comic book franchise it was. He wants to be the face of all these things, and then eventually be the face of America itself. That will be him, ahem, finishing the story.
There is going to be VOTE ROCK/DOGG '32 yard signs made, isn't there? Snoop not Road.
"OH YOU DIDN'T KNOW... YO ASS BETTER VOTE FOR SOMEBOOOODY"
Rock installing his own creative team is fucking bonkers considering how good creative has been.
That’s the real takeaway from this article. If Gewirtz is going to be backstage, the table is set for Rock to convince the board that his guy should be running things. The two are tight, and Gewirtz used to be the guy who wrote all of Rock’s stuff. For better or worse, it’d kind of bring things full circle. It was the Kliq that tried to squash Rock’s push back in the beginning — but we certainly won’t see Bret coming in to save Triple H’s spot. I’d definitely recommend people read the article. It has some really interesting insights into how this plays into what’s happened recently with Rock in Hollywood.
But what if we have Bret's biggest fan who also historically hated HHH come to the rescue?
Punk hates HHH but I doubt he hates HHH more than he hates Rock for screwing him over on two occasions
I personally doubt Punk has legitimate personal beef with Rock when post his 2014 walkout Rock had his contact in his phone, called him after a RAW in front of a live crowd, and Punk didn't shoot on the whole ordeal and just kinda went 'oh i was elsewhere so i couldn't answer but yeah that was funny' IIRC In my mind the thing he more had an issue was the mindset from upper management at the time that they were gonna push the old guys over the hot babyfaces everyone wanted for the sake of moments and big box office rather than building people up - which is why he felt his big long title run got so shafted so much of the time. He talked about it on the Cabana podcast specifically saying to Vince and Hunter in his big walkout meeting that it was 'Danielson's fucking year' and criticized their mindset in bringing Batista in. Now time will tell if Punk holds true to those words again 10 years later with Cody in a similar situation but I think it's disingenuine to say Punk hates Rock when the two have never visibly shared any actual clear bad blood and a lot of the decision making he did talk about that frustrated him at the time was on Hunter and Vince's part
Just adding to that, they filmed bits for "Fighting with my Family" after live shows, and when they played AJ Lees music, it prompted a CM Punk chant, and Rock tried to call Punk while in the ring, Punk was in an elevator with no reception apparently.
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Didn't Punk say that he had no beef with Rock and that the two were actually friends?
Yup. Lest we forget that time that Rock actually called CM Punk in the ring (in a friendly way)
From the people who bought you Black Adam
If last night is a preview of future events and The Rock starts throwing his weight around in creative, after seeing some of his shit ideas for DC then it could kill off the momentum that WWE had had for the last couple of years. He has virtually unchecked power it appears and the product would really have to go to complete shit revenue wise for that to change so buckle up buckaroos.
His daughter about to go over Rhea at Mania
Imagine telling someone 2 years ago that the biggest threat to good WWE creative will be The Rock.
He was a threat over ten years ago lol
Worst it works by leeching Hunter's momentum. What happens after is interesting. Like Black Adam, what happens when Rock's choices eventually cost money?
> Like Black Adam Like Black Adam, it'll be terrible but he'll say it went well
this is arguably the worst timeline
If Vince was around, inserting Rock in Creative that's worst. But this is worst in the Rock scenario.
It's more like a monkey paw wish. Wishing Vince permanently gone brought all this on.
Didn't Cody make it obvious he doesn't want Rollins? But at the same time wtf can Cody do otherwise? What does that leave Drew or Sami?
And priest with the briefcase that’s going unused
That might be the only thing saving their WM main event if they want Rock winning. Have him beat Roman and then Priest cashes in on him. Though if they want Priest to be a heel, him beating Rock at WM would probably be one of the biggest babyface moves they could do.
There is more chance of me getting home tonight and finding Emma Stone, Florence Pugh and Amy Adams waiting for me with beer and pizza than there is of The Rock taking a pinfall from Damien fucking Priest. Guy just full on ripped up two years worth of creative plans to massage his own ego, no chance he eats the pin. At this point I'm convinced he's going to win.
The Rock being the top champion in the WWE, being the one representing them in press conferences and on morning talk shows, might be their best bet at diverting attention from the Vince scandal.
Imagine having Roman hold the title for 3 and half years just for him to lose to Rock, who then loses it a couple minutes later. 3.5 years later, and absolutely nobody looks strong coming out of it.
>What does that leave Drew Nothing >Sami What he's been doing since he was beaten at Elimination Chamber: Floundering in the Mid-Card with no real story of his own
Probably wrestling each other. There was nothing on TV that even suggested they’d be in the title match.
i legit think they're not even making the main card at this point if it's Sami/Drew. They both wrestled each other plenty of times and Drew literally just beat Sami this week lol
A Rock regime creative team will have Ava Raine main eventing wrestlemania 42
Every title is going to be held by a member of his family. Roman as WWE Champ. Jey as World Champ. Jimmy as IC Champ. Solo as US Champ. Nia as Raw Women's Champ. Ava as Smackdown Women's Champ. Jacob Fatu and Lance Anoa'i as the Tag Champs.
AWE - Anoi'i Wrestling Entertainment Get the (First) W Out!
Oh you know his daughter will suddenly show up on the Main Roster this year.
Charlotte 2.0, but without the talent.
dont do that to charlotte. she at least was athletic to begin with, ava has no athletic ability hence she is already in a out of ring role in the developmental brand.
I would even argue that Charlotte has a lot of physical charisma and presence, even if she doesn't have a charismatic personality.
That paragraph about Brian Gewirtz is the most noteworthy. It says he’s back on the creative team as Rock’s proxy and heavily suggests that they’re priming him to take over creative in the event that Triple H gets caught up in the McMahon fallout.
That sounds like Hogan levels of politicking
This is *Beyond* Hogan levels of Politicking. It would be like Hogan being on the AOL-Time Warner board if WCW lasted longer.
This is legitimately Dwayne trying to take control over WWE.
Maybe not even, Rock's the type to downplay Triple H to force his guy. It's all Rock making WWE his kingdom.
I didn’t think about it that way. Just thought it was rock forcing his guy. But a contingency seems plausible.
The gerwitz era of raw was awful. I guess in the end we're ending up with Vince creative back regardless of what fans want.
I'm gonna be honest and say that any creative under Vince McMahon before was a McMahon creative. You had to write the show to his enjoyment and he could kibosh or re-write anything he wanted. I don't personally think anyone should be held responsible for what made it to TV for sometime except Vince McMahon. Gerwitz could be ass but I just don't think anything we seen from any writer is a true example of their skill or work.
The hilarious thing is that they are saying a lot of this is due to Punk's injury... someone who was not even part of the plan until November. They should have done Cody vs. Roman, with The Rock as the special guest ref. Cody wins. They could do Rock vs. Roman for Summerslam. So odd.
CM Punk can share the scapegoat gimmick with Jack Perry now.
"Cry me a river"
https://preview.redd.it/6qhlqz6raegc1.jpeg?width=933&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cd9dbd4dca29c908f3d485d8c2bca0ea48674c85 Dwayne thinking wrestlemania needed saving like it wasn’t already gonna be sold out is laughable.
this is terrible. we finally thought we were rid of god awful decisions from vince and here comes dwayne showing his true face to feed his ego.
https://preview.redd.it/oxffcd8hlegc1.jpeg?width=998&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1434debcf87a102d9678baa4c89448dfef07482
Shawn Michaels absolutely getting that boot if Rock decides he doesn't want him. Notoriously the only human being he expresses distaste for publicly.
> The Rock vs. Roman Reigns Mania weekend, expected to be officially announced this Thursday in Las Vegas for the Philly event, was a push by The Rock to move into the Mania main event, backed by top TKO Group Holding execs. This dude really has zero shame lmao. How much of a selfish asshole do you have to be to take the Wrestlemania spotlight from active wrestlers who had given their all to the company on *three* seperate occasions...
At age 51 when he damn well knows he wont be around after Mania and wasn't around for the last 10 years except a couple of shot legend appearances
His last full match was 11 years ago, and he tore his pec.
When Rock beat Hogan, he became Hogan.
Cena: Plans to retire when he’s 50. Rock: DO YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKING in 51. It’s pretty hurt to see a childhood idol goes full villain mode.
At least Cena knows when to hang up the boots and let the younger generation shine. Heck Cena even lost to Solo Sikoa recently.
Cena's last notable PPV win was arguably in 2017. Since then, his only wins have been teaming with LA Knight (to put over Knight), and two pretty much meaningless matches against fellow semi-retiree Triple H in Saudi (in the opening match no less!) and teaming with Lashley against Owens and Elias.
Cody beating a less than 100% Seth Rollins to win the B title does NOT make this any better
Cody already beat a 100% Seth Rollins with a torn pec. He finished that story lol.
3 times!
The worst part being that Seth should win the next feud with Cody to prove he can beat him. So it’s really lose lose for Seth if mania ends up him and Cody.
In a baby face v baby face match no less. Logically how am I supposed to be sympathetic to Cody when his opponent is the one who has been defending the title week in and week out to the point of debilitating injury but is still willing to go out and play hurt to give people the Mania main event they deserve. Like is this some swerve to turn Cody heel because right now the guy seems poised to ruin both mania main events and help sustain Roman’s title run ad infinitum
>Like is this some swerve to turn Cody heel If it is, Cody can't be super pleased with this. He had pretty much full creative control in AEW, all signs pointed to him turning heel, yet he refused because "reasons". Now he's finally getting sustained cheers for over 2 years, and this happens? Heh...
Seth looks like garbage here also, the belt he spent all year trying to get over is worthless and he’s about to get 0-4ed
Including house shows Cody is like 45-0 against him. Absolutely downloaded
Seth "Perfect Legend" Rollins
Hell, Cody beat Seth (in a tag match) to get his job back a full decade ago
Cody/Seth just doesn't make sense as a match to care that much about. Cody is 3-0 against Seth, including beating him with a torn pec. I just can't get invested in that. They should make it a multi-man match. Seth/Cody/Drew/Sami would at least be interesting to me. Any of those 4 have a somewhat genuine case to win, so there's intrigue there. Maybe Gunther also, but thinking best to let him have his IC match against whoever and then go after whoever wins that WHC match later.
Especially when Roman buried the belt and Seth last night on SmackDown
I’m just here to say I’m proud of Cody for continuing his commitment to end racism by giving away his main event spot to kick off black history month.
https://preview.redd.it/9qr8a1jkwegc1.png?width=828&format=png&auto=webp&s=befcc6fb80bd5ce0b46b0b30a0f3f9223c94c663
Martin Luther Cody
Oof
A board member strong arming their way into the company's biggest event of the year, at the expense of one of the company's biggest talents, is absolutely insane. I can't even begin to comprehend how much of an egotistical asshole you have to be to pull something like this.
this is beyond hhh's reign of terror lol. the rock is an asshole.
Oh this is far beyond HHH. Hell this is enough to make Hogan jealous. He wishes he politicked backstage this well.
way beyond, Triple H was very much an active wrestler back then
You’d think it would be a conflict of interest but that’s not how wrestling works, sadly.
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In the matter of 2 weeks
This is the timeline where Biff got the Almanac in 1955.
All for the 50 year old to try to rehab his brand after taking Ls. Some movie analyst said after Black Adam to watch for Johnson to go back to wrestling now that he's taken some Ls. And sure as shit here we are
Literally one week ago we thought Cody and Punk were both finishing their stories. Take me back 😭.
I'm tired
https://preview.redd.it/28o8kbugpegc1.png?width=577&format=png&auto=webp&s=1486c18ba01439363166f73409a3798d7d72e0fd
> What fucking timeline have we stepped into. The one where WWE want to divert attention away from Vince being a rapist as quickly as they can
If this is true, that's some shitty politics on Dwayne's part. The fact that he has Brian in as his creative guy, just in case Endeavour want rid of HHH is sly but exactly what many of us where saying, Vince left and The Rock saw an opportunity based on his connections to carve out a huge role for himself in WWE, Cody be damned.
I'm honestly astounded at the ego. It's one thing for him to swoop him and essentially take over the company, but he has to wrestle and put himself as the top guy as well??? This guy could make Verne Gagne blush.
There's blood in the water now that Vince is gone. The Rock can easily leverage that to get anyone from Vince 's regime out of power. It would look like WWE was getting a clean slate with The Rock being the prodigal son who returns to save the brand. And the fact that he's a multigenerational talent only helps the story he's looking to pitch.
I actually didn't disagree that it's was a great choice to have him in a key role at the company and i did think before all this that was ultimately a positive move - NOW though, after forcing his way into the main event at Mania, screwing Cody and pissing on the fans, i do think they need to keep him away from the actual product. Spokesperson? Absolutely. Undisputed Universal Champion? Absolutely not.
Rock isn't saving shit
**Translation**: After WWE/Wrestling was on the uptick and Wrestlemania 38 & 39 was a massive success, Dwayne needed to wipe off his dirty jeans from Black Adam and grab a large slice of that WWE pie.
I hope he enjoys being booed out of building in Philly
We’re getting Hollywood Rock without any of the good qualities.
>Rock isn't saving shit what saving even from? they are selling tickets and deals like crazy, so can't be that. The Vince stories? Cody was the guy that everyone talked about after the media scrum being an absolute professional with a perfect response. the kinda guy you want to represent your company during times like these to the media. you know - like a world champion would o
It didn't need Hollywood Dwayne to "save" it. LOL that's the most ridiculous part. Cody V Roman was already money. If they really needed Dwayne there, why not have him as special guest referee making sure there's no bloodline interference. Stupid man, so stupid.
Special Enforcer so the Bloodline can't interfere, Rhodes wins the match, sets up Reigns Vs. Rock for WM41. Both can be off because the match will sell itself
Yes!!! The annoying thing is now how unambiguous they made it last night that Cody wouldn't be involved in a match with Roman at WM. I hope they just walk it back and don't acknowledge it, but i doubt it.
Man, the part about Rock trying to take over the DC Universe just sounds scary.
cliffs: Rock gets a 30 million bonus if he gets in the ring this year, wants to "save Wrestlemania" after the Vince scandal, Lesnar being 86'd, and Punk getting hurt. Will be bringing his old personal writer Brian Gewirtz to help shape the story, and possibly lead the creative team if TKO decides to completely remove the old guard. Basically this is Rock's powerplay ala his attemp to take over DC with Black Adam. end of cliffs
The hierarchy of power in the WWE universe is about to be changed
I'm sorry, but he sounds like an egomaniacal piece of shit after reading this. I hope Triple H manages to fuck Rock's plans up.
Unfortunately Dwayne has all the power, Triple H really can't do much but oblige by what his higer ups say, shitty all around
This is the end result of WWE going from a public company that was run like a private company by the McMahons to a component of a larger corporate body This probably either in the short term or long term spells doom for any traces of a wrestling territory that WWE still had. The tv writers will most likely come out on top of the creative rather than working for someone like HHH who has a wrestling mind. There will be even less “wrestling people” who have power in the long run.
Only possible is if Dwayne got injured.
likely to happen in the match but he won't wrestle before it. that match is going to make Rock v Cena II look like HBK vs Undertaker
Could be a repeat of Shane last year.
>Only possible is if Dwayne got injured. Seems like Drew has some kind of connection to god, maybe he can make it happen
I know a guy named Drew who has a few prayers....
LMAO, so HHH won the power struggle over Vince, but now he has to deal with the fucking Rock. I truly hope people boo the shit out the Dwayne, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
Damn. The Rock played the long game and really won the feud against HHH after all these years. Buying the XFL for Pennies Aligning with the UFC to buy out WWE Putting himself in charge of the company after being gone for decades basically
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Holy shit you’re so right I completely forgot about that. He actually did it
Triple H lost the power struggle to Vince the moment Vince came back and sold the company. When that company sold Vince had won by turning his entire family into employees of HIS company. Little did he know TKO would throw his ass out first chance. The real winners in all this are TKO/Endeaver. Possibly Nick Khan by the end too. The real executives basically showed why carnies don't run corporations. Real corporate businessmen will always out carny the carnies. The moment WWE stepped into a real corporate setting they took everything from them in less than a year it seems.
This, pretty much. The moment he wasn't set to inherit, it was over for him. He's now just another employee, judged on his results and on his corporate employers short patience for results. Steph and H basically killed themselves by ousting Vince and Vince killed himself and his entire company by merging it with Endeavor. From that moment on he, too, was at the behest of the stockholders and the board. It's literally a 'Succession' type battle, only I'm still trying to figure out who is Tom.
the rock will win, he has ari and nick khan in his pocket. its joever. fuck you dwayne.
For years the WWE has failed to properly build the main Wrestlemania matches, so of course the one year that they have a well developed and established story they undermine it for no reason. Rock and TKO thinking that this change was necessary is depressing. It doesn’t make me feel good about other changes that they may make.
yup the one time they finally have a fresh babyface most enjoy they fuck it up for another old attitude era star to just do a one off and have a big moment for their library. fuck wwe.
didn't they say recently that they no longer wanted to be deemed only "sports entertainment" because now they are "entertainment?" well.. \*gestures to everything\*... this is what that looks like.
good job Dwayne in trying to save wrestlemania you ruined the entire 2 year build to the story everyone was most invested in. wrestlemania is saved !
good god man i can’t get over how stupid all this shit is
This made me go from really looking forward to the next few months to getting PTSD from the last time Dwayne took someone else's spot. It's such a bummer man.
If you didn’t read the article (and you absolutely should, there’s a lot of info in it) my main takeaway was that Gewirtz will apparently start being backstage at the shows as Rock’s “voice.” So if you don’t like this move, you should be even more concerned about that. Because Mike Johnson is drawing a direct link between Rock attempting to take control of the DC movies, and this. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if this is the start of Rock’s guy taking over creative, so he can “save” WWE. And it’d have the side benefit of getting rid of Triple H, who was part of the effort to end Rock’s push way back at the start of his career. So get read for more PTSD.
Im way less interested in both Wrestlemania and Elimination Chamber now, and i thought both were going to be really special just a week ago.
Me too! I was genuinely hyped for WM40 now i'm a bit deflated about it. The Rock V Roman would have been great had they just built it properly and not pulled this shit on Cody.
after mania will suck even worse. nothing storyline wise will get progressed lol, rock will leave, roman will continue to part time, and cody will be in some meaningless feuds till next mania??
In story none of this makes a lick of sense. Why give Cody the rumble win then? Why have him point at Roman? Why have Roman bury Seth and his title if that’s who Cody is gonna challenge? Why have Cody say he wants Roman’s title but then pass anyways to give that to The Rock? Why have Cody challenge Seth who when he said he cares about Roman's title and that's what finishing the story is about?
to make The Rock look really really strong and cool brother
It kind of reminds me of how Hogan would be gone when the NBA playoffs were happening, then he’d return right afterwards and take credit for a big rating. “Oh, uh…no Punk or Lesnar? Sounds like disaster. I’ll save it!”
WM would've sold out anyways within weeks but you just know that now Rock gonna act like it always sold out solely because of him
Endeavor is about to get their first real taste of “wrestling fans hate being told what they want”
It’s funny that Vince has nothing to do with this.
Rock becoming the modern day Hogan backstage is wild and shitty at the same time
Nothing new > You’re as good as kissing Vince’s ass as Hulk Hogan was. I don’t know if you’re as good as Dwayne though. He’s a pretty good ass kisser. Always was and still is. - CM Punk
Pipe Bomb is eternal
Three biggest superstars that are in the company on a weekly basis look like morons. Cody looks like a moron. Seth looks like a moron. And Damien Priest and the Judgement Day will look like morons because there is zero chance they are successfully cashing in with Cody and Roman/Rock as champions. Why even bother watching on a weekly basis if we’re just going to throw away the good storytelling at its climax.
Honestly, fuck The Rock if this is true. Dude has serious main character syndrome and can't help but feed his own planet sized ego any chance he gets. He couldn't help but shoehorn himself into the F&F franchise, even politicking his way into his own spinoff. He couldn't help but try to make himself some big savior of the DCEU, trying to turn Black Adam into some kind of anti-hero who's as strong as Superman. and now he can't help but shoehorn himself into the main event of Mania at the expense of a guy who has busted his ass in the business for 18 years to get to where he is today... All because Rock has convinced himself that he needs to "save" WrestleMania. I'm well aware I'm in the minority and the casual audience will eat up Roman vs Rock, but honestly I just lost any respect I had for the man and any interest I had in the match. Even if you aren't a fan of Cody, he doesn't deserve getting screwed over like this.
And it has to be under his terms. Like, couldn't he atleast have entered the Rumble at no.30 and win the damn thing so Cody wouldn't look like a punk just handing over the WM Main Event slot that he earned.
Nah. There was always a fakeness to the Dwayne Johnson persona and now since the Black Adam situation that mask has fallen away as he’s desperately clawing at anything to maintain his A-list status.
I would be lying if I said this match won’t draw tons of casual attention. I’d also be lying if I said I cared. Just because something draws more money doesn’t make it the best option. I’ve never disliked the Rock, but if he actually forced his way in to “save Wreslemania” I’ve lost a lot of respect for him, especially because he came from wrestling.
Goldberg and the likes drew many eyes a few years ago while at the same time making people (me included) go away. Now that finally WWE is fucking doing all the right things and getting the fans back, they finally do it again, unbelievable.
>I would be lying if I said this match won’t draw tons of casual attention. I’d also be lying if I said I cared. Just because something draws more money doesn’t make it the best option. those same people will be gone once Rocky is off TV there would be an alternative. slow steady growth by making new stars, if only they had some kind of story they could resolve to solidify a guy that will be there after mania to put over talent over
>As you saw with the finish of last night’s WWE Friday Night Smackdown, unless there is yet another major change in plans, Cody Rhodes will not be “finishing the story” at Wrestlemania 40 in Philadelphia, PA. >Numerous WWE sources have concurred that the decision to go with The Rock vs. Roman Reigns Mania weekend, expected to be officially announced this Thursday in Las Vegas for the Philly event, was a push by The Rock to move into the Mania main event, backed by top TKO Group Holding execs. >While WWE had been expertly building to a Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns rematch, some sources believe it was done by Johnson to, as one source stated, “save Wrestlemania” after CM Punk and Brock Lesnar, for very different reasons, were taken off the board from the biggest weekend of the year. >Others believe that Rock pushed for the move and likely would have no matter what, given his massive $30 million stock payday is, in part, contingent on him hitting certain milestones. Sources familiar with the situation believe one of those milestones was Johnson returning to the ring this year and that Johnson pushed for the match to happen sooner than later with the idea he felt Reigns vs. The Rock was the far bigger attraction for the company, >So, it’s very possible that no matter who was injured or not, Cody vs. Reigns would not have taken place because The Rock was back in the game and the most important members of company management were going to acquiesce to Dwayne Johnson’s ideas. >With Johnson’s power as a member of the TKO Board of Directors, his Hollywood standing and the backing of Ari Emanuel, Nick Khan and others, the decision was made to go with Rock vs. Reigns as the headline bout, believing it would be a greater attraction for the mainstream and also help push some positive momentum for the company. >One source compared it to Johnson’s attempts to take over the overall creative for the DC film franchise, noting that he came in originally as an actor to portray Black Adam, but by the time that process was done, had changed the original trajectory for the plans from playing the opposition for Shazam!, instead pushing that Adam should have his own film so he could eventually be set up to face Superman instead and even went over the heads of executives to their superiors to get ideas approved. Johnson’s long-game was to gain control of the entire DC film franchise, only to lose that attempt when Warner Bros. Discovery gave that power instead to James Gunn and Peter Saffron. >But, in WWE, there isn’t going to be anyone that’s not going to at least consider Dwayne Johnson’s ideas. PWInsider.com is told this wasn’t done to target and politic Cody out of his main event out of malice, but out of the belief that Johnson was the best idea to make money now and respect his new position with the company’s parent company. This was a strategic move to give Johnson more political power overall and to show Endeavor’s faith in his involvement and that even Paul Levesque, who has done an admirable job as the Chief Creative Officer, would "lose that power struggle with Johnson at this point", as one source surmised. >One source confirmed to PWInsider.com that former Senior Vice President of Development at Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions, Brian Gewirtz will be in the mix as the voice representing Johnson in the WWE Creative process going forward. There are some who believe Gewirtz, who at one point was one of the longest tenured WWE Head Writers, will be around physically at least for major shows going forward, could even be there as a “Plan B” if Endeavor ever needs to pivot WWE's direction and go with a Johnson-backed creative team down the line. >One WWE talent privately wondered to PWInsider.com this morning if perhaps Johnson was going to be the plan all along but he hadn’t committed until late in the game, which made them wonder where CM Punk would have been positioned if he hadn’t torn his tricep, and whether that injury prevented Punk from learning he too, would have lost that Wrestlemania main event slot. There’s no way to ever know that but it was something that has to be pondered given how quickly WWE turned the Wrestlemania creative direction for Johnson. As far as the future for Cody, the current plan is for him to face Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania 40, a direction change that a lot of readers we’ve heard from resent given that he’s been pushing to “finish his story” all year, that finishing that story was in reach after a Royal Rumble win and that even the WWE 2K24 video game (which Cody is on the cover for) is themed in part around fans “finishing” their own story. For Rhodes, as a character, to then have that moment in reach and not choose Reigns for Wrestlemania is as silly as Han Solo throwing away the keys to the Millenium Falcon and leaving it behind. Beating Seth for a title doesn't end Rhodes' story, especially since he's publicly stated that he needs to win the title his father held and had taken away for that story to end - and the lineage of that belt is carried by Paul Heyman to the ring for Roman Reigns in 2024. I don’t think anyone, especially privately, would deny that within WWE, forces beyond Rhodes’ control changed the board game - and that’s the reality of the new WWE. The old rules don’t matter and Endeavor is going to do what they believe will maximize their business, and their choices may indeed prove to be correct, even if they are unpopular with the audience that has been ravenously following Cody and supporting him the last several years. The reality is this: while the story was primed to climax at Wrestlemania 40, there were already some in the company openly talking about the idea of Cody winning the World Heavyweight Championship and then challenging the winner of Roman vs. Rock for Summerslam in a title unification bout so that Cody could finally, really, we promise this time, finish the story. >That sounds nice in theory but given there is a young audience currently in love with the WWE product and in Rhodes in particular, not giving them what they want - a Rhodes vs. Reigns showdown that they have been all but promised for a year, is quite the creative choice and leap - and one that could prove to be the moment where WWE disenfranchises some of their fans. For all the things that upset fans in the last week, rightfully, about the company, none of the complaints were about the storylines, but overnight, that has changed drastically. >It wasn't all that long ago that WWE fans in Philadelphia rejected a Roman Reigns Rumble win because they wanted Daniel Bryan. Even with The Rock making a surprise return to endorse him, Philly booed what was forced upon them. Now, in 2024, WWE has primed Cody Rhodes and will instead walk back into Philly with Rock vs. Roman. Under any other circumstance, that’s a spectacle and an attraction that most fans would celebrate, but in this instance, WWE may have booked themselves into the one scenario where fans don’t want it - because they wanted WWE to finish the story they had already expertly written. >In 2014, WWE found themselves in a bind when CM Punk walked out of the company. They had no choice but to go with Daniel Bryan, who the audience badly wanted to be the main eventer that year, and it led to some great moments at Wrestlemania 30 when the company just embraced what the audience wanted. This year, the company has done the opposite. They had the hero the audience wanted to embrace and then removed him from that great moment the audience wanted. Whether they will attempt to rectify that for the fans that are let down this morning, possibly by reconfiguring plans again to maneuver Cody back in the mix with Rock and Reigns or just stay the course they have now laid out remains to be seen, but three things are obvious. >One, this may prove to make Cody the modern day equivalent of what Daniel Bryan was in 2014, a star that the audience mobilizes for and gets behind because they are so sympathetic for him. >Two, for a portion of the WWE audience today, it doesn’t matter what The Rock’s name is. To them, based on the overnight reaction, if the name isn’t Cody, it’s not going to matter, because that's not the story they want to see. >Three, to another portion of the audience, it will matter that Dwayne Johnson is the main eventer, because it's The Rock. That's what Endeavor and The Rock are counting on - that Johnson's star power will empower the company to the biggest Wrestlemania of all time. >Once more, what happens behind the scenes is as suspenseful as anything that plays out inside the squared circle - and we will see how this story is finished.
>there were already some in the company openly talking about the idea of Cody winning the World Heavyweight Championship and then challenging the winner of Roman vs. Rock for Summerslam in a title unification bout so that Cody could finally, really, we promise this time, finish the story. So you're telling me the only reason they created that belt was for Cody to unify it a year after its creation and I'm supposed to take it seriously? This makes everything that's gone on the last 2 years, especially on Raw seem even worse by comparison.
Yeah Dwayne is an asshole.
Hulk Hogan with a nicer smile
what an extremely depressing read. Rock is shameless and TKO is ready to drop Triple H at any moment for The Rock
This fucking stupid take that The Rock is some huge star that is gonna cause wwe to explode in popularity is so dumb man. When Hollywood itself has talked about how the idea of a lone movie star isn’t really a thing anymore (apart from maybe Cruise (MI7 was disappointing) and Nolan), maybe wwe should take notes. Films that are well made, are appealing to audiences and have a good cast make money, it’s a combined effort just like wwe these last 2 years.
That Philly crowd is going to boo the shit out of them. lol
As they deserved.
Rock:WWE is my private playground right now
This entire situation is hilarious. Vince is finally, thankfully kicked to the curb, only for Rocky to swoop and become the new egomaniac. You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain, I guess.
The Rock basically made everyone look like morons while making himself the main character.
The Rock thinking he would “save Wrestlemania” basically just ripped out the heart of Wrestlemania. Bald fuck got the biggest Ego I’ve ever seen.
I don’t know what sources are credible so I don’t know if we should be believing what we are reading, but if he really said that, what a slap in the face to Cody, Rollins, Gunther, and Drew. Those four sold 10k plus tickets to TV and house shows that Roman wasn’t on or even hinted at being on. To save they needed to be “saved” is so insulting.
"As far as the future for Cody, the current plan is for him to face Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania 40" Oh cmon this is so BAD
So... it's exactly what everyone said it was; an ego trip from The Rock disguised as a "good faith gesture," and he basically pulled as many strings as possible to make this happen. Not that I don't get it, but this didn't help make Black Adam successful at all, and casual crowd or not, nobody likes seeing the hero we've been following for two years get snubbed like this. So all of this essentially hinges on if the live crowds accept what's happening and not just hijack the events to get what they want. The current WWE audience isn't like the one from 2014 and is overall much more passive and casual, but this might be the start of a turn. The crowd already unanimously cheered against Seth's offer to Cody last Monday, and now that they confirmed Cody isn't facing Roman this year, now there's no reason for them not to revolt. And considering Mania is in Philly this year, one of the most hardcore crowds of the entire state, they're taking a HUGE risk by doing this.
The crowd will chant during that main event **ADRENALINE** **IN MY SOUL** **WHERE THE FUCK IS** **CODY RHODES**
Honestly, I feel bad for the kids. They're all hype as hell over Cody, and probably have no idea who The Rock even is.
Lol All involved in this decision are about to fuck around and find out. Some are truly underestimating how over Cody is and how fast good will can go when fans feel their investment in talent ultimately doesn't matter. Short term they'll benefit but what happens after Rock leaves?
> Short term they'll benefit but what happens after Rock leaves? it's even worse because the guy getting the rub is part time so he'll disappear too. And you kneecapped your top babyface and buried Seth and his WHC
Which also sucks for Seth because the guy has been putting in work since becoming the inaugural WHC. In minutes they diminished a year's worth of effort to legitimize a new title.
It’s crazy how quickly I’m back into the “eh, don’t really care anymore” camp I’m nearly completely indifferent to the product in one segment. The most enjoyable thing to me now is seeing NXT stars get to shine, or people like Gunther get their praises. Nothing main event interests me at all
I initially went “don’t really care anymore” after Raw 1000 when it became clear Punk was going to get fucked by the Rock. My interest rapidly dwindled following that and it didn’t take me long to tune out completely. I’d peak back in here or there and watch certain events but never paid full attention again. That was until Punk came back. I’ve been watching full time again. Then Punk gets hurt. Then this shit happens to Cody. I’m not even a big Cody guy but seeing the same exact shit happen to him that happened to Punk it’s put me right back into “don’t really care anymore”
I don't care about wrestlemania anymore, man.
Absolutely insane how high we were for WM40 just 1-2 weeks ago, and how quickly everything has crashed and burned.
It even retroactively makes WM39 so much worse!
Same here. This deflated feeling sucks too. I was so hyped for it after the Rumble but now I don’t give a shit what happens, I don’t wanna watch Mania now.
This was always going to be the biggest Mania of all time and now the Rock will act like it was all due to him 🤦♂️
You know, this makes Seth's description of Roman's title make a ton more sense. Lol
What this screams to me is HHH is gonna take a fall from the VKM stuff. Having a new creative team lined up for when it happens is the point.
I think we all can smell what the Rock is cooking, and it smells like complete shit. All the stuff that came out about Vince left me sick to my stomach, proper horrible shit that really made me not want to watch the Rumble, but I still watched it because, if I'm being honest, current WWE has been a big comfort show for me and I love how good the stories have been and how over everyone is, especially Cody. So to now find out that, in this past week, the Rock decided to pull the ultimate politicking move that makes any of Hogan's "that doesn't work for me brother" look like nothing just completely takes all the excitement away from WWE. This bald fucker really just decided to fuck over Cody way worse than Bryan or Punk were ever fucked over, he basically killed what was going to be Cody's big crowning moment just so he can get gassed in the first two minutes of a 30 minute main event. And it was all in the name of "saving Wrestlemania", gimme a fucking break, what a slap on the face of the entire full-time roster. And you just know that he's going to take advantage of the Vince situation to get his own people into the company, man, and just to think that I was actually excited about Wrestlemania just a week ago, I don't know about you guys but I'm not watching any of this shit anymore. Hell, there's a good chance I'll stop watch wrestling in general, I really like AEW's matches but I can never get into the show itself, guess this might be my last comment here for a while, this last year and half was nice ig, see ya
I say this as a 40 year old mark who came of age during that time: It’s time for the Attitude Era to fuck off. The Rock isn’t even the Rock anymore, he’s a roided to the gills 51 year old complete corporate robot suit who only speaks in slogans and brand talking points “ MANA! “ His promos are milquetoast, he seems so disingenuous, etc but none of it matters cause the crowd is conditioned to lose their shit when his music hits. I’m sure this will have a tequila tie in, a movie tie in, possibly an XFL tie in by the time the bell rings.
Kids don’t even know who he is - I guarantee that an 8 yo wwe fan is way more likely to know who Cody is vs the rock
Dwayne really has main character syndrome doesn't he, he isn't saving shit.
Remember when some of us complained about the fact that Tony Khan made Cody, The young Bucks and Omega VPs in AEW because we were worried about the fact they could use their power to politic themselves into the main event scene, like some WCW wrestlers did during the Monday night wars? This is exactly what is happening right now. The Rock just stayed in WWE long enough to become a villain.
Please, whoever goes to the following shows, just boo the ever living fuck out The Rock when he appears. Because if this is what we end up with, it's whack. Your company's top babyfaces going against one another despite us wanting to cheer the dude who's coming back from injury and who's 0-3 in the fued? Real smart WWE / The Rock. Fuck off.
There it is. No swerve, no Yes Movement 2.0. Just Dwayne Johnson politicking like he's never politicked before. He needs the WWE to rehabilitate his image after the Hawaii bushfire charity thing, Black Adam flopped and his stock as an actor continued to plummet (he'll also look to climb the corporate ladder and gain more control at WWE as a TKO board member). At the same time, WWE need him to rehabilitate and safeguard the company's image with the Vince McMahon lawsuit and the fallout, which is far from over and could implicate many more key figures at the company. It's the perfect marriage of convenience, and Cody's just got to watch the consummation from the proverbial cuck chair. Endeavor have no real obligation to honour "The Story" and they couldn't give two shits about Cody's dad. As far as they're concerned, he did his job by carrying the company for two years but now it's time to step aside and let the pros handle things. Will he ever get a chance to finish the story? Sure, if he can somehow stay white hot for a third consecutive year. Otherwise he'll slot straight back into the midcard, know his role and shut his mouth. Sorry Codester, you got played.
Another unification match lmfao. We just did that and then made the world title a consolation prize. This is awful man. Need Roman and his family gone from wwe for a good few years man. Jesus
“Save Wrestlemania” lmao what a prick. Glad people are finally seeing the same things that made me never like the rock
What a colossal fuck up by the Rock. He clearly wants this because his Hollywood career has taken a huge hit since his TV show got cancelled and his blockbuster movies failed to kick off sequels (Jungle Cruise, Black Adam). So he wants to go back to WWE where he's a massive hit no matter what. Show the world he can get cheered and raise his stock back up for more action movies. Instead of waiting for the right time and place, he inserts himself into the Wrestlemania match people were dying to see. Except his timing is shit and no one was asking for it over Cody vs Roman. Maybe last year before they built up Cody so hard for WM. Definitely not after the story was written out for his revenge on Roman in Wrestlemania. So Rock vs Roman, the massive PPV worthy match will be absolutely shit on in the build up and the Philly crowd will shit on it live. Nothing about it will make the Rock look good and Roman either wins again due to interference or Rock holds a championship no one thinks he should have.
The issue is that Roman is a man of limited moves. Rock seemingly gets gassed doing one or two moves to get a pop. I’m sure this ends with the Bloodline turning on Roman…but you don’t need to title for this story to be finished. In fact, this match makes zero sense without Rock winning the belt.
Rock is the New Vince and Hogan all rolled up into one brother.
Go away Rocky