The Official Wrestlemania XXXIX Weekend Thread: Raw After Mania Live at 8:00 pm EST!

[ron the dial]

night 2 not even in the same league as night 1

[GD]

A clusterfuck of a main event and I enjoyed every single second of it. What an emotional rollercoster.

[Sepholio]

Im honestly shocked by that ending and that nothing happened afterwards. Thats wild. Totally did not expect that.

[Evil Vito]

This finish almost entirely pissed away the good vibes I had from this Mania.

Awful. Just absolutely awful.

[Sepholio]

Endeavor put their foot down and said Roman stays champ or no deal

[keeper2k]

I mean, Triple H was the first heel to win in the WM main event. We should've seen it coming

[Triple A]

World title and IC title matches were amazing... other stuff not that good

[GD]

Im honestly shocked by that ending and that nothing happened afterwards. Thats wild. Totally did not expect that.

Reigns overcoming a true pioneer.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1So_KHWYAYwzAH?format=jpg&name=large

[Sepholio]

Another year for Codys quest. Damn.

[slik]

What

The

Fuck

[Sepholio]

The Rhode to the top took a detour at Albuquerque

[Evil Vito]

There is literally zero chance Cody’s eventual win is going to match the emotion it would’ve had tonight. None whatsoever.

They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

[slik]

Exactly

If he wins at Backlash it's anti-climatic

[Sepholio]

On the positive side, Sami was in the main event of both nights.

[xrodmuc316]

Man I said Roman was gonna be the champ until WWE gets sold, looks like that is actually gonna be true!

[GD]

Once Roman hits 1000 days as champion, I'm assuming he'll drop the WWE Championship. Maybe lose it in a triple threat or multi-man contest so he doesn't have to get pinned.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Dang the last WWE event before it gets sold ends on just the wettest of farts.

[Fignuts]

There is literally zero chance Cody’s eventual win is going to match the emotion it would’ve had tonight. None whatsoever.

They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Yeah, I'm really not seeing the upside of this decision.

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A masterfully laid-out Pat Patterson Wrestlemania.<br><br>With a Triple H pinning Booker finish.</p>&mdash; SoDuTw (@SoDuTw) <a href="https://twitter.com/SoDuTw/status/1642733593247006720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Fignuts]

Once Roman hits 1000 days as champion, I'm assuming he'll drop the WWE Championship. Maybe lose it in a triple threat or multi-man contest so he doesn't have to get pinned.

Hellish

[Sepholio]

Seriously the only 2 things I can think of as reasons for that are Endeavor really did want Reigns as champ as a condition because of I imagine they see him as super marketable, or The Rock was available for Summer Slam. But with The Rock I'd have for sure would have expected him to show up at the end there. I dunno. Can't really wrap my head around that. HHH had to know how that would come off too so unless he has something wild up his sleeve then I dunno what he's thinking long term here.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

I’m not watching Night 2. This was perfect. I don’t wanna ruin it.

I should have listened :o:$:-\:(:|:nono:

[RaginRonic]

Welp, Cody's now permanently gone from the main event in WWE. No more world title matches will he have.

Only way Joe 'Roman Reigns' A'noai is out of the main event is to be legitimately injured from a sledgehammer shot to the back of his head, and is left the 1st person to die in a WWE ring since Owen Hart's fatal fall on May 23, 1999.

=S

[Sepholio]

Almost expect TK to show up on RAW tomorrow now. What is going on.

[Sepholio]

This has to be calculated. They know the news of the sale already broke and now they've left us doubly confused. I have to actually watch RAW now. I haven't felt like I had to watch it in a long time.

[xrodmuc316]

Comeon Bianca saying she has the new streak lol. She won 3 matches,Macho won 4 in one night. Let's slow down on the new streak talk Bianca.

[Sepholio]

Who the hell is Roman actually gonna give the rub to? Like really. I have no idea at this point because who is left for that spot?

[keeper2k]

Roman is coming up now on the press conference, but I'm very curious to see what kinda questions HHH gets.

[xrodmuc316]

This has to be calculated. They know the news of the sale already broke and now they've left us doubly confused. I have to actually watch RAW now. I haven't felt like I had to watch it in a long time.

Forget that, this is a masterful plan by The Rock, he keeps telling them "hey I'm coming, keep the belt on Roman, it will be HUGE". This is the ultimate revenge for WWE firing Nia Jax, Rock don't play.

[Sepholio]

roman killing it at the presser. damnit I cant believe what he has become. incredible.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Gotta respect a company that builds its product 100% on “moments” and building two bonafide stars to have their “moment” on back to back pay per views and then say no thanks we’re good.

[Sepholio]

LOL PAUL LMAAAAAOOOO "he has a bad habit of starting problems at press conferences" AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[xrodmuc316]

HAHAHAHA Heyman just brought up All Out Scrum Ducking love it.

Roman telling him to do improv lol

[Sepholio]

Now I really feel like TK is gonna be on RAW.

[GD]

Who the hell is Roman actually gonna give the rub to? Like really. I have no idea at this point because who is left for that spot?

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS7Eu0h1JZoXMbAEdnd13DBu1VF-QFTlP57YYnhUhLsy6YIGn3X

[keeper2k]

LOL PAUL LMAAAAAOOOO "he has a bad habit of starting problems at press conferences" AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

He got Roman to corpse with that one lol

[Sepholio]

lmao the comments on the livestream chat are hilariously toxic

[Sepholio]

TRIPLE L AEW RULZ HHH SUX

[Evil Vito]

They get one of AEW’s founders to jump ship, and the schtick he was doing that was getting him booed out of the building is lapped up by their fans. They love the guy. He gets a brutal looking injury, puts on a gutsy performance despite that, then goes away for months, which was a blessing in disguise because it killed any chance of fans getting tired of him.

The timing works out perfectly for him to come back at the Rumble and win, and now he’s even more over than before. Despite another red hot feud threatening to derail the build to this mania match, Cody still manages to sell the hell out of it and keep interest strong.

They got lucky with everything to do with Cody and this feud, either by circumstance or from Cody doing his job extremely well, and they still said nah fuck it.

I just really don’t understand. This felt like a lay-up decision to make and I just can’t imagine the stars and planets aligning for a better moment.

[keeper2k]

Fuck, Shane tore his quad

[slik]

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS7Eu0h1JZoXMbAEdnd13DBu1VF-QFTlP57YYnhUhLsy6YIGn3X

Bron's really not that good unfortunately.

The NXT crowd turned on him the last few months because his matches are all the same.

[Sepholio]

Damn Shane that sucksss

[Triple A]

They get one of AEW’s founders to jump ship, and the schtick he was doing that was getting him booed out of the building is lapped up by their fans. They love the guy. He gets a brutal looking injury, puts on a gutsy performance despite that, then goes away for months, which was a blessing in disguise because it killed any chance of fans getting tired of him.

The timing works out perfectly for him to come back at the Rumble and win, and now he’s even more over than before. Despite another red hot feud threatening to derail the build to this mania match, Cody still manages to sell the hell out of it and keep interest strong.

They got lucky with everything to do with Cody and this feud, either by circumstance or from Cody doing his job extremely well, and they still said nah fuck it.

I just really don’t understand. This felt like a lay-up decision to make and I just can’t imagine the stars and planets aligning for a better moment.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fswuo-tWcAEv4ft?format=jpg&name=small

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bobby Lashley’s likes on Twitter. Yikes. <a href="https://twitter.com/fightbobby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@fightbobby</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/Windham6?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Windham6</a> deserved so much better. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WrestleMania?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WrestleMania</a> <a href="https://t.co/kFPXrl01T1">pic.twitter.com/kFPXrl01T1</a></p>&mdash; Walk With Wyatt �� #WhiteRabbitTheory (@WalkWithWyatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/WalkWithWyatt/status/1642720717581025281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Fignuts]

Omg the little contortionist girl's mom passed away this morning.

Saddest wrestlemania ever

[Sting Fan]

Yikes, kinda felt like you had to have Cody go over there.

[DrA]

They need to have the segment on Smackdown where the Usos have their heads down and face the wrath of the tribal chief for losing the titles, that doesn’t work if they all lose at the same time.

[Fignuts]

Cody beating Roman at a later date is like Thanos winning in Endgame and the Avengers finally beating him in Shang-Chi

[Fignuts]

They need to have the segment on Smackdown where the Usos have their heads down and face the wrath of the tribal chief, that doesn’t work if they all lose at the same time.

It absolutely works in the context of Roman being an arrogant manipulative controller. It works even better. Roman can blame them for his loss to cody, instead of accepting any personal responsibilty. Fits his character perfectly.

[Sepholio]

damn HHH on a first (last?) name basis with bad bunny. Just calls him bunny.

bad bunny.

[Fignuts]

Oh god.

Just read there are reports coming in that vince was running last minute creative on night 2.

I hope thats not true but it would explain a lot.

[James Steele]

How do you fuck up that ending? The story is the fucking story. Ending ruined an incredible 2 nights of WrestleMania.

[Triple A]

damn @ Finn Balor gash... I guess Seph was right about how bad it was

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just a flesh wound <a href="https://t.co/LL3B8utAk9">pic.twitter.com/LL3B8utAk9</a></p>&mdash; Finn Bálor (@FinnBalor) <a href="https://twitter.com/FinnBalor/status/1642753664661196800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">When Roman beats Austin Theory at WM 40 and then Montez at WM41 <a href="https://t.co/2xyeQ1VyjH">pic.twitter.com/2xyeQ1VyjH</a></p>&mdash; Kenton (@Kenton_la) <a href="https://twitter.com/Kenton_la/status/1642755948589596673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Destor]

This is why wrestling doesnt work anymore. Heel goes over and doesn't get any heat. Its the book. Its the office. The entire enterprise is vacant.

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bobby Lashley’s likes on Twitter. Yikes. <a href="https://twitter.com/fightbobby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@fightbobby</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/Windham6?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Windham6</a> deserved so much better. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WrestleMania?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WrestleMania</a> <a href="https://t.co/kFPXrl01T1">pic.twitter.com/kFPXrl01T1</a></p>&mdash; Walk With Wyatt �� #WhiteRabbitTheory (@WalkWithWyatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/WalkWithWyatt/status/1642720717581025281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I might as well go back to Japan… But I bet a lot of you guys my friends will miss me when I leave WWE? <br>Now I need the power of your anger. Let's bring chaos to the boring Women's Division with me💩 <br>Let's bring chaos to the Women's Division, let's bring chaos to the WWE! <a href="https://t.co/nr8pJAqySO">https://t.co/nr8pJAqySO</a> <a href="https://t.co/K7itr2RBuw">pic.twitter.com/K7itr2RBuw</a></p>&mdash; ASUKA / 明日華 (@WWEAsuka) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEAsuka/status/1642740291273883649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Triple A]

damn, shouldn't have zoomed in on finn balor gash pic... gonna be stuck in my head for a bit.......

[DrA]

It absolutely works in the context of Roman being an arrogant manipulative controller. It works even better. Roman can blame them for his loss to cody, instead of accepting any personal responsibilty. Fits his character perfectly.

Maybe, I was playing around with that idea while driving to McDonald’s. It might be that they just don’t want to go full blown chicken shit with him. Yeah he’s an asshole but he’s still legitimate and the alpha and there is that sort of balancing act you have to do with all of those attributes of that character. I’m not saying whether or not it was the right decision, but that’s been their strongest character and hottest storyline for over two years now, and I can understand a perspective where they have a slower burn with it rather than giving it all away at once.

[GD]

Omg the little contortionist girl's mom passed away this morning.

Saddest wrestlemania ever

I just read about that. My heart...

[xrodmuc316]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I might as well go back to Japan… But I bet a lot of you guys my friends will miss me when I leave WWE? <br>Now I need the power of your anger. Let's bring chaos to the boring Women's Division with me💩 <br>Let's bring chaos to the Women's Division, let's bring chaos to the WWE! <a href="https://t.co/nr8pJAqySO">https://t.co/nr8pJAqySO</a> <a href="https://t.co/K7itr2RBuw">pic.twitter.com/K7itr2RBuw</a></p>&mdash; ASUKA / 明日華 (@WWEAsuka) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEAsuka/status/1642740291273883649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Honestly who cares what Sasha Banks thinks?

[slik]

Guessing for Backlash:

Cody vs Seth vs Roman
Bad Bunny/Rey vs Dom/Priest

Not sure whose next for Rhea - Raquel?
Bianca - an NXT callup?

[ron the dial]

damn @ that balor wound

[slik]

King of wounds and trunks

surrendering to the internet police

https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-zSnvSweiJy3Qf6bm-sstlpA-t240x240.jpg

[Lock Jaw]

Finished watching....

- Omos/Lesnar was a good opener and a lot better than I thought it would be. Just from the sheer "spectacle" of seeing something "different" in a Lesnar match, with Lesnar selling hard for Omos. Put myself in the mind of little kid me being impressed/scared/fascinated by El Gigante and imagining some little kid feeling the same @ Omos....

- The women's tag team showcase was a match on this card. Probably the worst thing all weekend.

- Gunther/Sheamus/Drew was pretty great as expected... just a great physical brawl.

- Bianca/Asuka was great and probably my fav match of the night maybe, and one of the best of the weekend. Loved the finish.

- Miz with another impromptu match.... man... Miz has really fallen into deep jobber territory. Shame cause he is a lot more talented than a lot of guys they are trying to push (Theory).... but I get it, he isn't "fresh" anymore, gotta push the fresh meat.

- Edge/Balor was decent. Really thought Balor should have won..... maybe Rhea kicks Finn out of the Judgement day now. Maybe she dumps Dominik and kicks him out too... dunno who they could "replace" them with in the group or maybe the group is just "done"....

- Reigns/Cody was really good. I was like 100% certain that Rhodes was gonna win, especially after his entrance... so I was very pleasantly surprised to see Reigns go over. They made the right call that was "best for business". I just wonder how they can stretch it out for another year, while building his next WM challenger whether it is Zayn or Rhodes again and keeping them hot for the big moment next year....

[Lock Jaw]

Overall, if not for the tag team title match on night 1, I'd put night 2 ahead of 1.

[RaginRonic]

I NOW HAVE THE RIGHT ANSWER ON SOMETHING!!!

Joe 'Roman Reigns' Anoa'i is now a real-life WWE backstage politician, just like Hulk Hogan was in the 80s WWF and 90s WCW.

He now has built his locker room power base, and can now turn down any storyline outcome with 6 words....'That doesn't work for me, brahhh!'.

And that's a massive bag of shit that belongs in dumpster of any Wendy's restaurant frequented by Jim Cornette and Conrad Thompson. =P

[Vastardikai]

To answer a question: There is Bobby Lashley that you can do a Bloodline vs Hurt Business. From that, you could steal a month with Roman vs Omos (and I am being completely serious.) There is a thing where team Cody is in shambles, realizing they need someone to answer for Solo. From there, you get Bronn, who could come closer to beating Reigns than anyone expects, but isn't "ready". There is Seth Rollins, who actually beat Reigns (via DQ). Also, how far out is Orton? Nakamura should be back, soon. They could do another round with him. And then there's Jey Uso (and no, Noid didn't take over my account.)

[Savio]

Would be pretty cool if this leads to Samy vs Roman next year if Roman retains.

[screech]

Cena lost after bringing out Make A Wish kids.

Cody lost after giving his weight belt to -1.

Vince is all the way back.

[XL]

How the hell do you not go all the way and finish the story with the natural conclusion you’ve laid out in front of you?

When they were going under the ring for plunder how did they make it so Brood Edge didn’t drag out Russell Crowe to perform an exorcism of The Demon leading to Brood Edge getting the win!?

In all honesty that should be the the major difference with The Demon, he should have his resilience turned up to 200 where you can hurt him but not put him away. It should take something huge to put him away like multiple Con-chair-to to do the job.

Also he should have gone around and checked the structural integrity of the top turnbuckles at the start of the match.

[XL]

Jaw dropped for Roman’s win. Raw could be fascinating tonight.

[XL]

Oh also, how does that Miz/Snoop segment about LA being Miz’ city not lead to LA Knight coming out? Instead we got Shane.

[Ruien]

It might not make sense but I was not hyped at all for Cody to be the champ. The story was cool but the aftermath was going to be boring.

[XL]

Fuck, Shane tore his quad

Like father, like son. Better check Shane for hush money scandals.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Thought Night 2 was another great night of wrestling. An exhausting weekend, with lots of ads and that sort of stuff, but really great wrestling. Was surprised by Lesnar/Omos, the women’s tag and Bianca/Asuka.

Edge/Balor…fuck, I just hate modern Hell in a Cells. Plus Balor is ridiculous. It’s a shame he got busted up, but the grunting and the whole demon thing is just not my thing at all.

Roman winning…look, sometimes it’s the right thing to do the obvious thing. Sometimes there is a greater story ahead of you. Cody gets to be Bret Hart at Survivor Series ‘90. The Bloodline stuff also gets to continue. That’s probably their preferred vehicle around which to dictate their stories.

I’m sure they were a bit nervous about missing the boat with Cody, but if they have bigger plans it could be onwards and upwards.

[Sepholio]

Roman vs Jon Jones at SS incoming

[Mr. Nerfect]

I dunno. I’m getting bad vibes from it all. Even if clever shit is to come, it doesn’t feel satisfying. Feels too manipulative. Maybe it all turns out to be brilliant and we can look back and say this was awesome storytelling. I feel like the fans are going to get more sick of Cody with this detour to the belt stuff than had he just won it like a proper wrestler.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I get where Ruien is coming from though. The idea of the post-Roman programs feels a bit uninspiring. I think there are many ways around that though.

[Big Vic]

Sami vs Roman Wrestlemania XL

[Rammsteinmad]

Everyone complaining about Cody not winning will say it was totally worth it and planted the seeds for his eventual win at Wrestlemania 40.

Kinda like Daniel Bryan losing to Sheamus in 28 seconds was "the worst booking ever" but ended up being the start of his mega push.

[XL]

I can’t see how they keep him this over and/or face for another year. It’d have been interesting to see what the plans for him were before the pec injury got in the way as I can’t imagine the audience being as hit for him as they are now with a full year. Cody is going to be a great heel champ at some point.

[#1-norm-fan]

Omg the little contortionist girl's mom passed away this morning.

Saddest wrestlemania ever

I thought this was a reference to some kid with Cena on night one.

Just found out she performed LAST night. Hours AFTER her mom had passed.

Damn.

[Loose Cannon]

I know this is the unpopular opinion on here, but I didn't mind Reigns winning last night. I just never got the whole finish the story thing with Cody. I think the guy is an amazing worker and maybe if it was anyone but Reigns, I would of loved him to win the title last night, but I just didn't buy him being the one to take down Reigns. If he didn't get hurt and had spent a year going through other programs and hardships to get to Reigns, I would of felt a little more invested. But him coming back after months of not being on TV, coming out #30 in the Rumble and having a few matches between Rumble and Mania just didn't do it for me as far as me really wanting him to take down Reigns. I also did not watch AEW as much, but I really hadn't seen much of him before his return

I was way more invested in Owens' match at Rumble against Reigns. And speaking of Owens and finishing the story...the tag match was amazing and watching Owens and Sami hold the titles together after everything they've been through together since they were basically teens. That was an emotional rollercoaster of a story.

I think they want Reigns to get to 1,000 days at least as they did mention it last night with Pedro, Bruno, Backlund, Hogan. I don't mind another year of him as champion and someone mentioned the End Game analogy and I thought it fit perfectly. Maybe it just takes everyone working together to finally take him down. Dare I say the guy to actually do it though should be Jay Uso?

Excellent Mania though all in all

[XL]

Ha. The BBC website over here had an article about The Rock’s daughter making her wrestling debut at WrestleMania. Not only was she not on Mania, she wasn’t even on that full NXT show card. Bad journalism.

[Fignuts]

I thought she debuted a long time ago

[ron the dial]

Ha. The BBC website over here had an article about The Rock’s daughter making her wrestling debut at WrestleMania. Not only was she not on Mania, she wasn’t even on that full NXT show card. Bad journalism.

pretty sure she was on that NXT card in a mixed tag match

[slik]

I could maybe see Seth vs Cody vs Roman happening where both Seth and Cody pin Roman at the same time - giving them a storyline reason to split the titles.

[ron the dial]

oh god please no

[slik]

I didn't say it was a good idea, I just said I could see it happening

[XL]

pretty sure she was on that NXT card in a mixed tag match

Yeah on the Kick Off show.

[Maluco]

They keep making the same mistakes. It was the same with KO/Jericho. Zayn/Reigns was THE story, all year, great build, intrique, humor, emotion, energy. They knock it down to the first night and give Rhodes (who, mark my words, the fans will turn on, as they did in AEW because of his cringe interviews and overly fake dramatics) the main event.

Give it to Sammy ffs. The fans would have gone absolutely crazy if he has gotten the win and he is a strong enough performer to give you some interesting months of content after the event.

They can just never seem to get it right and end up with half measures that accomplish nothing.

[Lock Jaw]

I hope they use the year to build Sami back up as a "legit competitor" and not just "the underdog" who gets beat up a lot but pulls out the win. Mix the two together a bit more.

Do a story like from his "road to redemption" in NXT, where he is just fighting the best and proving himself by winning. Somewhere near the end of the road Cody goes heel and is the "final obstacle" between Zayn and Reigns. Then finally Zayn gets his moment and WM40 and the fans go banana.

Of course it would also be great is Zayn could actually put in some work in the gym and maybe get back into the shape he was in when he debuted in NXT before his injury.

[Evil Vito]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If WWE wrote the Rocky films, Apollo would've beaten Rocky in the first four movies and then lost to a disinterested looking Muhammad Ali in the fifth after he only showed up in the final ten minutes. <a href="https://t.co/ZWYK9KrMQg">https://t.co/ZWYK9KrMQg</a></p>&mdash; Trevor Dame (@TrevorDame) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrevorDame/status/1642775289779601409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Mr. Nerfect]

Everyone complaining about Cody not winning will say it was totally worth it and planted the seeds for his eventual win at Wrestlemania 40.

Kinda like Daniel Bryan losing to Sheamus in 28 seconds was "the worst booking ever" but ended up being the start of his mega push.

I can’t see it going that long. But I see your overall point.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I’ve still got this feeling they might be getting a bit cute. Timing is very important, and sometimes when you try and force your own time, you can end up missing the organic window. But there is a chance they’ve got brilliant stuff lined up, with months and months of build left.

[Mr. Nerfect]

The more I think about it, the more comfortable I am with Roman winning. Cody having a couple of months as champion to just take the belts off of him because…that’s what they’re going to do. If MJF signs with them, it’s probably going to be Cody vs. MJF in Philly. It doesn’t really make sense for Cody to have achieved his dream by that point.

You’ve got way stronger babyfaces lined up for Roman than you have heels for Cody. Lashley still seems like a pure babyface. Randy Orton could be coming back (with Matt Riddle). Edge just beat Balor. Rey beat Dominik. Seth beat Logan Paul.

WWE finds this ultimate package for its wrestlers then markets the shit out of them. Roman Reigns is the champion. Cody is the guy with a dream. It may not work like conventional wrestling, but they’re playing on a different board to guys like Dave Meltzer and people on social media claiming everything is fucking fucked forever because the change hasn’t set in.

The Bloodline is still the main driving force of WWE’s programs. Maybe Roman beats Lashley and that is what triggers Lashley to put together The Hurt Business? Orton’s quest for the belt leads to Riddle turning on him? Sheamus can go for it, Drew can wipe him out. All these potentially interesting roads run through Roman.

LA Knight, Shinsuke Nakamura, Ricochet and Braun Strowman could all make interesting TV challengers. Hell, Rey & the lWo vs. The Bloodline kind of works for me too. Then you’ve also got Zayn & Owens and even The Usos should the pressure to win back the tag belts get to them. I got the very distinct feeling that they’re telling the story that Solo Sikoa did his job at Mania…The Usos were far less effective.

[XL]

They need to have the segment on Smackdown where the Usos have their heads down and face the wrath of the tribal chief for losing the titles, that doesn’t work if they all lose at the same time.

The whole Bloodline angle is about coercive control. Note when Roman told Jey “I love you”, see the difference in Heyman’s character with Roman compared to his character with Leanar. It works 100% that Roman blames his loss on The Usos losing the previous night. He was so mad he lost concentration. He let Cody get in his head because they cracked, etc.

[XL]

What are we expecting from Raw tonight?

Orton? Styles? Riddle? Nakamura? Breaker? Other NXT call ups? Jay White? Debuts?

[Mr. Nerfect]

The whole Bloodline angle is about coercive control. Note when Roman told Jey “I love you”, see the difference in Heyman’s character with Roman compared to his character with Leanar. It works 100% that Roman blames his loss on The Usos losing the previous night. He was so mad he lost concentration. He let Cody get in his head because they cracked, etc.

You could absolutely do it the way you’re saying. I think it adds a layer if Roman has baby brother to praise. Solo did his job at Mania. Plus it means Zayn & Owens get to have the moment while Cody has to struggle back. There are interesting dynamics there.

I’m not convinced this is the way to go, but I think I can see what they’re going for. There could also be a bunch of business reasons why they want to stick with Reigns. I can see Cody WANTING to tell this story too.

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This was also on TikTok �� <a href="https://t.co/K4wURonZEN">pic.twitter.com/K4wURonZEN</a></p>&mdash; Tony X (@soIoucity) <a href="https://twitter.com/soIoucity/status/1642882246183985155?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Frank Drebin]

Makes me wonder why so many people don't accept wrestling as an acceptable form of entertainment.

[Evil Vito]

Feel like Edge’s return run has been marred by so much bad luck. Comes back to a massive ovation, promptly gets written off to prepare for Mania which ends up being in an empty gym. Then he gets put in a match with Orton which, while a fine match, was laughably promoted under the moniker of the greatest match of all time.

A bunch more injuries and periods of inactivity throughout and now his match with Balor goes kinda sideways in what I presume is gonna end up being his final Mania match.

He implied last summer that he was gonna retire the next time they were in Toronto, which they are in mid-August for a SmackDown a few weeks after SummerSlam. I could see his Toronto retirement match not being your typical WWE “fighting to keep your career going” match but rather one where he just flat out says in the build that it’ll be his last match so he can go out on his own terms, which he didn’t get to before.

Dunno who he should face but in a hypothetical scenario where Christian’s AEW contract ends, I’d love to see him be involved somehow.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Eh, I don’t really feel sorry for Edge at all. A lot of this seems to be his own desired direction. They’ve also let him play Shawn Michaels in a Royal Rumble. He’s getting more than his actual legacy in wrestling “deserves.” More power to the guy and I’m glad he’s got to do it, but a lot of it sucks and is just too far down that obscure tunnel.

[Mr. Nerfect]

John Cena mentioned for his SmackDown match last year that he wants to wrestle at least one match on SmackDown every year. They could do Edge vs. John Cena in Toronto.

[Shisen Kopf]

Let's talk about Roman Reigns and his little fucking bloodline. You know why this motherfucker keeps winning? Because his little posse of cheaters keeps coming in to save his ass.

I mean, come on, it's not like this guy can win a fucking match on his own. He needs his little lapdogs to come in and interfere every single goddamn time. It's like they're not even trying to hide the fact that they're cheating anymore.

And let's talk about those promos again. "I'm the head of the table!" Yeah, motherfucker, we know. But we also know that you wouldn't be shit without your little bloodline bitches doing all the dirty work for you.

It's time for the WWE to fucking wake up and realize that this shit is getting old real quick. We're sick of seeing the same fucking matches with the same fucking outcomes every single fucking week. It's time for some goddamn variety, and for some other motherfuckers to get a shot at that championship.

In conclusion, Roman Reigns as champ for this long is about as stale as a week-old piece of bread. And the fact that his little fucking bloodline has to cheat for him just makes it even more fucking pathetic. It's time for the WWE to start booking some real fucking matches, and to give someone else a goddamn chance to shine. Otherwise, they can go suck a bag of dicks.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Triple H is gonna open Raw with an announcement and the first hour will be commercial free

[Sepholio]

After that rant I am now convinced Roman Reigns stole Shisens bike.

[Sepholio]

Also are we just doing the RAW thread in here?

[erickman]

Triple H is gonna open Raw with an announcement and the first hour will be commercial free

wonder if they will split the belts and take one from roman

[screech]

First hour will be a commercial free HHH promo

[slik]

stop saying thank you

[Sepholio]

HHH gonna rip open his shirt and have on an AEW shirt

[screech]

HHH gonna rip open his shirt and have on an AEW shirt

"WWE ain't goin nowhere, but I....am ALL ELITE"

[Sepholio]

lol listen to those boos

[slik]

Pointless segment w HHH

[Sepholio]

I acknowledge you my tribal chief

[Sepholio]

Cody still selling his ribs. At least I hope he's selling and not actually hurt again.

[slik]

20 min into the show, nothings happened

[Sepholio]

uhg -_-

[Sepholio]

Seth?

[Sepholio]

Well oh shit

[GD]

Holy fucking shit! Lesnar

[erickman]

get him brock

[slik]

Cody and Brock as a tag team I like!

[xrodmuc316]

Brock hasnt had a match on Raw since like 2003!

[Sepholio]

Hope Elias destroys Omos

[Sepholio]

Booooooooooo

[screech]

Omos was best as the giant ninja

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brock Lesnar will wrestle his first match on WWE Raw since beating Tommy Dreamer in a Singapore Cane match on July 22, 2002 <a href="https://t.co/b5OA9INLhr">pic.twitter.com/b5OA9INLhr</a></p>&mdash; Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanRossSapp/status/1643049771303686145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[slik]

Has Brock really not wrestled on RAW in 20 years!?

[owenbunny]

Bad Bunny

[xrodmuc316]

Has Brock really not wrestled on RAW in 20 years!?

Has not since he came back in 2012, when he won the Undisputed Championship from Rock in 2002, he became exclusive to Smackdown and was never drafted back to Raw before he left.

[slik]

Can we please replace Kevin Patrick w literally anyone else?

[slik]

Vince is back

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I’m sitting right behind production and they’ve legit received THREE run sheets in the last 45 minutes. 2 since the show has started ���� <a href="https://t.co/qvYLbLzIU5">https://t.co/qvYLbLzIU5</a> <a href="https://t.co/ssyNM07vLG">pic.twitter.com/ssyNM07vLG</a></p>&mdash; That’s Freakin’ Wrestling Podcast (@ThatsFNW) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThatsFNW/status/1643050689743196160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[xrodmuc316]

Vince sucks

[Frank Drebin]

Can't wait for the Daniel Garcia vs Wheeler Yuta match to finish off the most important week of the wrestling year for this company.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Hey gang just want you to know I’m team Theory over here

He was a celebrity guest on Wheel of Fortune last week and was charming as fuck

[GD]

Forgot that Damien Priest and Bad Bunny were a tag team at Mania.

[Sepholio]

Damian and Dom vs bad bunnysterio at Backlash?

[weather vane]

He’s an artist man.

[slik]

bad bunny had CENA NUFF

[GD]

owenbunny

[GD]

Something tells me that Lesnar is going to turn on Cody and that'll lead to a singles bout at Backrash.

[GD]

Now that Owens and Zayn are champions, I hope they lose either the RAW or Smackdown tag team titles. With so many tag teams on the roster, it'd only be fair for them to have an "extra" set of tag team belts.

[GD]

Have these hobos changed their ring gear since Saturday?

[Sepholio]

Orton and Riddle right nowwwwww please

[Sepholio]

Have these hobos changed their ring gear since Saturday?

You can see the stank emanating from them

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Sami looking more and more like Mick Foley every day

[Sepholio]

You know Clash of Champions would be a great PPV for a joint WWE/UFC PPV. Split the titles first and then do the women v women, tag v tag, IC vs US, WWE vs Universal and throw in a couple cross weight exhibition matches between UFC champs that are close to each other in weight.

[Sepholio]

oh shit almost forgot

*hits blunt*

sorry about that

[Lock Jaw]

Put on RAW, starting late and have now caught up "live"

Calling it right now: Brock destroys Cody for some reason tonight, turning heel, and keeping Cody busy for a few months.

[slik]

this is a boring raw after wm so far

[Lock Jaw]

What if Bobby Lashley came out next and said his divorce with Lana finally went through and he is already married again, and he introduces his new wife Gail Kim

[Lock Jaw]

Holy poop, saw her earlier but didn't realize that was her.... WTF did Cathy Kelly do to her hair? Terrible...

[Lock Jaw]

Why does Rollin's coat have a picture of Cody Rhodes on it

[Lock Jaw]

Oh, it's a whole Cody Rhodes' face suit

[xrodmuc316]

Gotta be an NXT debut coming out to confront Seth right?

[Lock Jaw]

I like his Christian-esque sunglasses

[Lock Jaw]

Oh, so he just went out there to stand there for a whole commercial break

[GD]

Poor Mustafa Ali

[xrodmuc316]

Now they just have some random figure standing behind Lashley, this shit should have gone somewhere 3 months ago

[Supreme Olajuwon]

This #RawAfterMania is gay as hell

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Almost as bad as Night 2

[slik]

Seth coming out before commercial break and then just dancing for 2 minutes after commercial break and leaving smells like Vincent Kennedy McMahon

[Sepholio]

Vince is terrible and I hope Endeavor fires him

[Lock Jaw]

Many bottles of glowing red liquid in Reigns' locker room.....

[xrodmuc316]

Many bottles of glowing red liquid in Reigns' locker room.....

That is tribal blood!

[Lock Jaw]

Hope they unify the womens' titles like they have done the tag titles and the wwe/universal......

[Sepholio]

They should unify all the titles

[screech]

And put them on Christian

[Lock Jaw]

Now we're talking

[GD]

and cover his face with a blue dot

[Sepholio]

BROOOOOOO WERE HALF WAY THERE
BROOOOOOOO RKO OUTTA NOWHERE

[weather vane]

Why do I let these fucks suck me back in for even a minute? Haha this is so bad.

[Lock Jaw]

Matt Ridle with his best Val Venis tribute trunks

[GD]

Ummmm...Riddle looks undressed.

[Sepholio]

Ummmm...Riddle looks undressed.

<div class="tenor-gif-embed" data-postid="20094144" data-share-method="host" data-aspect-ratio="1.77778" data-width="20%"><a href="https://tenor.com/view/herbert-the-pervert-family-guy-gif-20094144">Herbert The GIF</a>from <a href="https://tenor.com/search/herbert-gifs">Herbert GIFs</a></div> <script type="text/javascript" async src="https://tenor.com/embed.js"></script>

[GD]

https://media.tenor.com/IxzwB3UsME0AAAAC/chris-benoit-entrance.gif

[Sepholio]

watching this replay.....was bad bunny pitching a tent?

[GD]

"local medical facility" :eek:

[slik]

"local medical facility" sigh

[slik]

Matt Riddle looks like he is in a speedo, not even trunks, it's not a good look for him

[Sepholio]

some guy booing like his life depends on it next to one of the mics haha

[Sepholio]

gonna laugh when the bloodline abandons Reigns in his next title defense and everyone thinks he's gonna lose and then he wins clean

[GD]

As of today, Roman Reigns has held the WWE Championship for 366 days and the Universal Championship for 940 days.

[Sepholio]

they should have just had solo stare straight at the camera for the whole split screen commercial without cutting away

[Lock Jaw]

Only at WM did I realize the part that everyone yells out in Codys theme is "ROYAL"

Every time I saw him and heard it in AEW I thought it was "RUN AWAY"

[Sepholio]

super short clusterfuck incoming unless overrun

[slik]

Not much time for the main-event

[Sepholio]

BORK LASNURRRRRRRRR

[Sepholio]

welp

[GD]

Called it!

Something tells me that Lesnar is going to turn on Cody and that'll lead to a singles bout at Backrash.

[Sepholio]

Endeavor says hello

[Lock Jaw]

Put on RAW, starting late and have now caught up "live"

Calling it right now: Brock destroys Cody for some reason tonight, turning heel, and keeping Cody busy for a few months.

[Sepholio]

who is gonna save Cody....

[xrodmuc316]

Brock is Roman's placeholder now, what a strange world

[Sepholio]

why do I get the feeling that this all ends with them revealing brock is only barred from fighting reigns for one of the titles and they then have him beat Roman for the other one to split them -_-

This just screams Endeavor wanting a strap on Lesnar for obvious reasons.

[GD]

Crowd chanting "one more time" :lol:

[xrodmuc316]

So zero debuts, and only return is Riddle? Very meh Raw

[Sepholio]

Maybe Cody really was hurt with all the rib selling he was doing and this is just to write him off for a bit to recover?

[Frank Drebin]

Garcia/Yuta seems pretty good compared to that ending.

[Sepholio]

lol imaging a scenario where they try to play this as Brock shooting on WWE in general for having him curtain jerk Mania

[xrodmuc316]

Double fingers, Tiny Khan gonna sue Brock for stealing the gimmick of literally his entire roster.

[slik]

Brock vs Cody will be a good match with lots of heat, but RAW was really boring overall.

[Sepholio]

Say what you want but WWE has suddenly become a bit more unpredictable lol

Nobody would have pegged Lesnar/Cody even being a thing tonight before his music hit.

[slik]

I will miss Fun Cowboy Brock too

[xrodmuc316]

I do wonder if considering who they are merging with if PG WWE is actually going to go away now. Kind of hard to argue WWE is too violent by comparison.

[Sepholio]

Yeah I could see them upping it to PG13

[Sepholio]

TK had WB cancel powerslap because he was mad that Endeavor was gonna buy WWE!

[Frank Drebin]

Would have been fun to see face Brock in a tag match with Cody but oh well. I want to blame this all on mustache Vince (voiced by Danny Devito).

HHH had a big announcement which is "We just got bought for 9.3 billion dollars and you think they're going to close us down? Naw, dude." That pretty much set the tone for the night.

Guess I'll have to wait until Wednesday for the real big announcement from Tony Khan where he's going to reveal that they're adding another ROH show and 8-man tag team titles.

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Imagine if Cody won the title and Brock wanted the title from Cody. That would’ve been kind of cool but whatever.</p>&mdash; Eric (@EWRNYC1) <a href="https://twitter.com/EWRNYC1/status/1643086266190241793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[slik]

Vince 'I will stay out of the weeds'

August 2023 - Can Omos defeat Goldberg at the biggest party of the summer?!

[xrodmuc316]

Vince 'I will stay out of the weeds'

August 2023 - Can Omos defeat Goldberg at the biggest party of the summer?!

I remember him having pretty much the same quote when he hired Heyman and Bischoff, then fired Bischoff right away and Heyman like 3 months later :rofl:

[xrodmuc316]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Q: Why is now the right time for the move to hire Heyman and Bischoff?<br>Vince: A logical one... I can't personally be in the weeds any longer... Both have extensive backgrounds in 'the business'... It allows me to have a broader overview. They'll have a lot of latitude.</p>&mdash; Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/1154413253566566400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Evil Vito]

The Raw after Mania has been a nothing burger for several years now and this one might’ve been the most boring yet

Great job guys

[Evil Vito]

Like to me Mania was really solid but the ending actively sullied the whole thing for me to the point where it sapped a lot of my desire to tune in to Raw in the first place

And then they came up with that show. Lol. Seeya at MITB or Summerslam I guess

[slik]

PWInsider reporting Vince rewrote RAW at the last minute and was firmly 'in charge' during the show

[XL]

Oof. That was quite the come down after Saturday. Seems they’ve tried to reset expectations around “The Raw After Mania” the last few years. They need to stop making as big a deal out of it.

[XL]

If Vince is back and creative goes back to how it was, do you stick around?

[Frank Drebin]

Its crazy how the pendulum has been swinging back and forth over which place is better to work for. WWE has basically been "Is Vince in charge?"

[Evil Vito]

Knew Vince would only be able to keep his grubby hands off of the product for so long. I’m so glad I didn’t ever get fully reinvested in this shit.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Overall, not a bad edition of Raw. I haven’t watched in a while. Holy shit at the commercials. I get they get moolah for it, and it’s the goal, but it was very annoying skipping ahead.

My big problem with the show is that I feel that the ending kind of buried…everybody. The beat-down itself was good. I have no problem going to Brock/Cody. And it’s not even that I called it — I did half-way expect a bait-and-switch, because Brock and TV. My problem is: Where the fuck were the babyfaces? What were Owens & Zayn doing? It felt like its own isolated part of the program and that doesn’t make sense. It’s especially egregious when the whole reason Brock is there is because of history they remembered. They can’t remember that Cody has allies that we’ve already seen on the show?

A simple rewrite could have made this quite epic:

* The opening segment happens.

* You go into Omos/Elias. I’m not that into Omos, but I get it. They have widespread exposure in Africa (and across the world). There is value to having a “gaijin” matter. Especially when they do draw such attention (I’m pretty sure even Big Show is Google searched more than most active wrestlers these days). The story of MVP lining up tin-cans for him makes sense. Keep it.

* The Usos being on the outs makes sense. Keep it. They go into business for themselves proving they belong. People hate these finishes, but a double DQ in the Street Profits/Quebec Agreement match makes sense. You can go into a three-way (maybe with a ladder) for Backlash. They don’t need to tip the finish by taking out the faces — it makes sense and would be “legit” in storyline. They don’t come out smiling at the end and are still on the outs with The Bloodline.

* Lashley is looking for a fight. Where is he? He also has unfinished business with Lesnar. After destroying Ali, he gets a car out of there. He’s going to wait until there’s a fight worth having.

* The main event beat-down still happens, but all Cody’s potential allies are gone/out. That explains the prolonged nature of it. Then — and I can’t believe I’m suggesting this — Omos comes out. MVP is trying to talk him out of it (explains why he wasn’t initially there). He can shove MVP to the side to chase off Brock, who doesn’t need to be scared, but is laughing to himself because he’s done with his shit and knows he can beat Omos.

If Omos is supposed to be a big deal, it might be a good idea to encourage people to care about him. He’s been beaten. You can keep microwaving him, but maybe he’ll have more value as someone you want to see toss around big guys you don’t like? Then foreign audiences can cheer for him and root for him to find his kayfabe credibility. MVP can sour on him and go back to the business-minded Lashley. You can do that match again with Omos being more difficult to deal with because he actually has gotten better. You could even do Omos/Brock again.

MVP and Lashley can reform The Hurt Business. At any point you can take Omos out and send him to train/be off TV. You could also have Omos rekindle with AJ Styles and do the HB vs. OC. Omos can second Cody into his next match against Roman and be the difference-maker. He doesn’t need to work a match on whatever card that is, but still matters more. Fuck it — do Cody & Omos vs. Brock & Bobby in Saudi Arabia. The heels can actually cheat to beat Omos and then have fans have a cop-out for his size not being the ultimate difference.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It would have furthered every single story better and lined up ones that your talent roster seems to want to tell (HB getting back together).

[Sepholio]

You know HHH is really lucky in a sense. He "can't" book a bad show. If he does everyone just instantly blames Vince. Vince is basically his cover dummy at this point.

[Sepholio]

That being said, I woke up this morning with violent diarrhea and I am absolutely certain Vince had something to do with it.

[Evil Vito]

The commercial free hour of Raw featured less than 2 minutes of wrestling and the second match started right in time for the first ad break. Like you don't have to be an Einstein to see that's Vince lol. There were Vince calling cards all over this show.

What remains to be seen is if this is a one-off or not. Vince may have felt he "needed" to be running this show as it's theoretically the starting point for the new creative year. Might've wanted to set things up "his" way and now he's passing it back to Hunter to run with it.

Orrrrr he'll realize he missed running the show and he'll be back there every week. Don't think it'll take too long to figure out.

[Sepholio]

Well we have to remember he isn't the boss now. Ratings are gonna be high because of circumstances, but you give it a couple more weeks of that kind of booking and the ratings falling back off and Endeavor could easily walk in and tell him to stop messing with HHHs booking duties.

[Sepholio]

Gonna be amazing when Endeavor future endeavors Vince tbh.

[XL]

My take is very much similar to Noid’s on this.

The beat down did get to a point of “where is everybody?” They send out everybody when they do the pull apart brawl gimmick but nobody in the back likes Cody enough or has a strong enough sense of right and wrong to get off their arses? I’ll park how convenient it was for Brock to be out there as Cody’s partner and put that down to “because the storyline has to happen”.

The whole show was a logical follow on from Mania. Omos gets a squash after losing at Mania, Profits win at Mania and go against the new tag champs, we got a return, Women’s champs are getting in each others sights, setup Bad Bunny & Rey vs Judgment Day for Backlash, only odd placement was the Women’s Tag situation but that whole division is a mess. All perfectly serviceable but really boring.

[XL]

I do deviate from Noid’s suggestion to use the beat down as a way to propel Omos up the card though. Not seconding that one.

[Lock Jaw]

You know HHH is really lucky in a sense. He "can't" book a bad show. If he does everyone just instantly blames Vince. Vince is basically his cover dummy at this point.

Conspiracy/cynical Lock Jaw thinks exactly this sometimes. That the sheetz love that Vince is back at the company because they can keep pushing the storyline of Triple H as a face and blame Vince for all the "bad" stuff. The big babyface of the sheetz is obviously AEW/Tony Khan right now, but they want to maintain a babyface within WWE for as long as they can.

[Loose Cannon]

just a tip for everyone in here. I haven't watched a full RAW or Smackdown in like 5 years and I find WWE to be so much more bearable now lol.

I only watch the PPV's. They recap the last 4 weeks of TV on them anyway so it works out great

Oh and the Brock turn on Cody. I dug it. Didn't expect that and it'll give Cody a big feud and win to be built back up again.

[Evil Vito]

The idea of Cody going over Brock is cute until you realize Vince may well have Brock steamroll him to set up Brock vs. Roman part 3774743

[Sepholio]

I can see it now. Gonna show Cody just how easy it is to go back on "ILL NEVER FIGHT FOR THE TITLE AGAIN!"

[Loose Cannon]

The idea of Cody going over Brock is cute until you realize Vince may well have Brock steamroll him to set up Brock vs. Roman part 3774743

ugh, yeah wouldn't put it past Vince to do that. Hopefully not. He'd book Brock to win, then face Reigns at the PPV after Backlash and win one of the Titles.

Then Brock will leave and vacate the Title and that's when Cody will win it. In some tourney defeating Rollins again :lol:

[xrodmuc316]

It was a very lackluster Raw, and certainly had the holes in logic that Vince came to be known for.

Cody got screwed over, cost his dream, and he comes out and says Roman was the better competitor??? He BARELY pushed for a rematch, then was just cool to have a tag match?

The only logical reason as to why Brock would turn on Cody is because Vince wanted Brock as a heel. Brock, who got screwed over by Heyman and the Bloodline, would rather randomly beat up a guy he NEVER once interacted with then get revenge on the people that cheated him for a year straight?

Also, reports stating that they sent Seth out to the ring, then during the commercial break changed their mind about him saying anything, told him to let the fans sing for a bit, and then leave, because...Vince.

He had his son in law go out and say nothing has changed, then proceeded to take over running the show, changing everything. He put on 2 hours and 50 minutes of garbage that he decided on the fly was better than building on all the momentum the company had built in the last 8 months that he was gone.

Basically, just Vince being Vince.

[XL]

Hold on! They said Brock could never challenge for the title while Roman was champ. They’d never go back on a stip!

Oh, is that why Brock is mad ar Cody? Because Cody lost Brock still can’t challenge for the belts.

[XL]

It was a very lackluster Raw, and certainly had the holes in logic that Vince came to be known for.

Cody got screwed over, cost his dream, and he comes out and says Roman was the better competitor??? He BARELY pushed for a rematch, then was just cool to have a tag match?

The only logical reason as to why Brock would turn on Cody is because Vince wanted Brock as a heel. Brock, who got screwed over by Heyman and the Bloodline, would rather randomly beat up a guy he NEVER once interacted with then get revenge on the people that cheated him for a year straight?

Also, reports stating that they sent Seth out to the ring, then during the commercial break changed their mind about him saying anything, told him to let the fans sing for a bit, and then leave, because...Vince.

He had his son in law go out and say nothing has changed, then proceeded to take over running the show, changing everything. He put on 2 hours and 50 minutes of garbage that he decided on the fly was better than building on all the momentum the company had built in the last 8 months that he was gone.

Basically, just Vince being Vince.

TLDR

FEDBAD

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The commercial-free first hour of Raw had 1 minute and 41 seconds of actual wrestling.<br><br>VINCE IS BACK, BABY. <a href="https://t.co/gSqRCBqFII">pic.twitter.com/gSqRCBqFII</a></p>&mdash; Drainmaker ��️ �� (@DrainBamager) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrainBamager/status/1643054797292183554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[GD]

It was pretty evident when they said "local medical facility". I guess it was fun while it lasted. I'll try to keep up with the news. Have fun, you guys.

[XL]

No sir we will not! We will hate watch and come here to complain after every show.

[XL]

It’s being reported that Seth was supposed to say/do something when he went out to the ring but they scrapped it mid-segment. If that’s true, oh boy.

[XL]

Vince saying he’s only overseeing the top level stuff and not “getting in the weeds” so maybe he’s plotted a course and turned to H and gone “let’s see you make this work”. Could lead to some crazy stuff.

[GD]

I'm genuinely bummed out. Saturday was so much fun.

[Lock Jaw]

just a tip for everyone in here. I haven't watched a full RAW or Smackdown in like 5 years and I find WWE to be so much more bearable now lol.

I only watch the PPV's. They recap the last 4 weeks of TV on them anyway so it works out great

Oh and the Brock turn on Cody. I dug it. Didn't expect that and it'll give Cody a big feud and win to be built back up again.

Even better just watching Summerslam, Rumble, Mania... maybe the odd other PPV but not all because most are also just "filler".

[XL]

Only one way to settle this mess.

Vince takes Raw, H takes SmackDown, draft who they want, legit competition for the very soul of the company.

[xrodmuc316]

A lawsuit has been filed against the sale, likely because of the concern WWE was sold undervalued to a buyer who was willing to allow Vince to retain significant control.

https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2023-04-03/shareholder-alert-ademi-llp-investigates-whether-world-wrestling-entertainment-inc-has-obtained-a-fair-price-in-its

It is basically the same thing we all said about the idea of WWE being sold to Saudi Arabia, because Vince would only choose them because they would put Vince right back in charge.

All it would take is proof of a better bid and things would get real interesting.

[Loose Cannon]

Saw a post on Facebook that had a picture of Cody and Ambrose giving the middle finger to the camera a few years back , which I believe was a middle finger to WWE

Then the picture below it had Brock last night giving the double bird to Cody while he was laid out I’m assuming .

And I thought that would be a pretty dope angle if it’s revealed HHH put Brock up to that. I mean Cody did give a big FU to Triple H when he took the sledge hammer to the throne . I think that’s what he did, right ?

It’s got some realism behind it and I would definitely be interested in that story . Now saying that, I doubt HHH gets involved in the feud but I’d like to see it happen

[Supreme Olajuwon]

A lawsuit has been filed against the sale, likely because of the concern WWE was sold undervalued to a buyer who was willing to allow Vince to retain significant control.

https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2023-04-03/shareholder-alert-ademi-llp-investigates-whether-world-wrestling-entertainment-inc-has-obtained-a-fair-price-in-its

It is basically the same thing we all said about the idea of WWE being sold to Saudi Arabia, because Vince would only choose them because they would put Vince right back in charge.

All it would take is proof of a better bid and things would get real interesting.

Technically this is just the announcement of an investigation by a law firm on behalf of shareholders. No lawsuit has been filed. At least not yet.

[xrodmuc316]

Technically this is just the announcement of an investigation by a law firm on behalf of shareholders. No lawsuit has been filed. At least not yet.

Vince is just such a turd, hoping Ari has a monster face turn and fires Vince as quickly as possible. I posted in the other thread, but #firevince is trending, which is pretty great