It's all a work though for the Cody/Kenny story. You have a guy in Kenny who was trying to be an "entertainter" away from WWE that made a turn in his career to being one of the best "wrestlers" on the planet and Cody comes in stealing his spot as an "entertainer" coming from WWE.

Yuck.

It's one of the few compelling stories being told in wrestling today, I'm sorry you can't enjoy it.

How does them fighting over the role of being "entertainer" even make sense?

That's not what they are fight for its just part of the story. It's about the leadership of Bullet Club and given the leaders tend to go to WWE it makes sense.

So they're fighting over who is going to be good enough to go the WWE one day? Have I got that right?

No

I don't understand then. How is it supposed to get me emotionally invested?

My understanding was that Cody Rhodes left the WWE, and he's gone around acting like he's too cool for school. I didn't think that being a WWE-style clown was actually part of his gimmick. But I thought he joined The Bullet Club, because that's what the "cool kids" who make snide comments when they think the teacher can't hear do, and because Omega has gotten popular, Cody is getting jealous and they are splitting, but still do dorky homemade amateur sketch videos?

No and when Cody left he originally didnt do any of this. He had his list and did that before joining ROH and Bullet Club. They'd been wanting to do a leader vs leader Bullet Club story and was intended to be with Cole/Omega but Cole went to WWE. Once Cole left Cody amped up the "entertainer" aspect which played better into Kenny Omega. If you want to break it down like that it's not which should be in WWE, its both should be but are not so they'll do WWE better than WWE. Yeah it's a risk but how did anyone get anywhere without taking risk.

But WWE is what people are sour on. Why does everyone feel the need to try and out-Vince Vince? It's just silly.

No the fans they already have are the ones sour on WWE. The WWE just suffers from over production and if you can pull off what WWE is going for without that then you'll gain some new fans.

Ooh, I don’t know about that.

wonder how many cm punk will sign and sale

CM Punk is easily the biggest attraction they have, and there will be the prospect of him getting involved at the actual show, so that might draw a few more people in. It'll be interesting to see how many, because I don't necessarily think he's an automatic 10,000.

Simple Fan ironically overcomplicating the Cody/Kenny feud. All it really comes down to is Cody's character being a narcissistic, manipulative douche who needs to be the center of attention. That combined with his problems with Ibushi has caused him to butt heads with Kenny.

The Being The Elite stuff is just complemental material for fans who like that sort of thing. Don't need to watch it to follow the meat of the feud.

As for Cody doing silly stuff on twitter and youtube or whatever...he's just playing to his audience. Typically, people who watch ROH and NJPW enjoy seeing wrestlers break the fourth wall and do that kind of stuff now and then. Especially in Japan. You've got wrestlers partaking in game shows and all manner of silly stuff, such as the Togi Makabe Dating Simulator. It's just a different mind set.

Thanks for explaining it. I think my problem with the whole Bullet Club thing is that it is really self-indulgent. I've read and listened to lots talking about how The Bullet Club actually haven't set business alight in Japan, and that a lot of the fandom are American hipsters who think they are onto something. And if that translates into something, then that perception is a reality, to a degree.

I just find the whole crotch-chopping, too sweet, we're so cool thing really forced when it's coming from the library Go club, that got the ironic blessing from the final years smoking behind it. Everyone in the group feels like a geek. The Tongans are probably legit bad-asses, but the context of them being the cool guys in a group of dudes they could eat but can have better matches than them is just...messy. There is much better use for their toughness that doesn't involve no-selling dramatic temper-tantrums from built-like-a-swimmer Cody Rhodes.

It's the attitude around the whole thing. They talk about wanting to sell out a 10,000 seat arena, and set themselves a standard of performance that they can't meet on their own (New Japan's ticket sales bear that out). You book a show that needs an arena, not an arena that needs a show. It feels silly to say this about guys actually wrestling, but it's like they don't understand what they are doing at all. The Young Bucks have made themselves out to be goofy dudes who can't beat people with tombstones and superkicks, and now they want to sell out an arena based on the drama of their performances?

It's very high school. So, so high school. My friends in the drama section would always say "Hey, let's put on a show!" and I was like "How are you going to sell tickets?" and they had this egocentric idea that people just loved them and would come to see them with their own money and spare time, and it really irked me. I don't know how else to explain it. I just find it frustrating that Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks think they are such giant draws because they sell ~100,000 t-shirts a month.

I'm LIJ for lyfe.

So bullet club is kind of whatever to me.

I do really love the Tongan crew and wish they would split off into their own group.

Honestly Bullet Club stopped being entertaining once AJ Styles (and Anderson and Gallows although not as important) went to WWE. Kenny Omega is a great wrestler but his character isn't very entertaining. Other than incredible matches with Okada and reforming an alliance with a much more entertaining Kota Ibushi what has Omega really done to keep you into what he is doing?

I'm entertained by The Young Bucks but they aren't really leadership material either, which leaves Cody. Who is midcard entertainment.

Haven't watched much in the ring from them yet, but aesthetically and theoretically, I agree with the premise, provided that Tama has gotten as good as I've heard.

I agree with the assessment of Omega. He's very good at what he does in the ring, but he really falters into the personality department. His expressions, promos and just how he carries himself are so below-par for a top guy. I'm not entertained by The Young Bucks, but I think they could be really good if they applied themselves in different ways. Agree with Cody.

Tama has become quite excellent in the ring. Most importantly he has a style that is uniquely his, adding even more to the ever growing diversity in NJPW. I could definitely see him stepping up to a leadership position and challenging for the IWGP and IC titles. Roa and Loa as the faction's tag team, with Fale being the bruiser, and challenging for the NEVER openweight title. Chase owens can be their Junior if he hits the gym and gets rid of the love handles.

Not sure what you would do with Yujiro though. If I recall, he's not an "honorary tongan" like Fale and Owens, but he doesn't really hang with the Elite either. Long as he keeps bringing that dime piece to the ring with him, I don't care who he sides with, tbh.

Apparently Vince Russo thinks not being invited for All In is some sort of conspiracy against him when Cody told him they simply don't want his bad rep involved with their show.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The ABSOLUTE FACT that I am ready, willing and able to appear at ALL IN while others are already attempting to do EVERYTHING in their power to keep me from attending-tells you just about everything you need to know about ME &amp; THEM.</p>&mdash; Vince Russo (@THEVinceRusso) <a href="https://twitter.com/THEVinceRusso/status/995114110332252160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We don't reward bad behavior. Stay away from our event. <a href="https://t.co/CzMCHhVB6m">https://t.co/CzMCHhVB6m</a></p>&mdash; Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) <a href="https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/995169670285156352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Edit: Whole issue seems to revolve around a Starrcast convention tied into All In and once Cody found out who was involved in that show, asked for Russo to be removed from the guests invited.

Well, that’s something Cody has gotten right.

i don't know, I really like Omega on the mic and his characters. but he's one of those guys you have to get. and i can see 50% of fans not understanding his shtick.

the WWE would completely overhaul his personality if they ever got a hold of him though lol

I hear all this talk that Omega was the best wrestler in the world, and he probably wasn't even the best in the Bullet Club (I had him at fourth, behind Tonga, Scurrl and Cody). Mainly because there's more to being the best wrestler in the world than just having good matches.

Daniel Bryan was billed as such, and he didn't really hit that until he started pointing at the sky and saying "Yes!"

There are guys like Austin and Meltzer saying he should be the top guy in WWE. And I'm like "Man, those 20 minute promos and duplicate matches are going to get sooooo fucking boring," haha.

I hope he stops doing the shitty mugging. I noticed he didn't do as much of it with Jericho. I definitely don't get it. You're supposed to be in a fight, so when you start distorting your face like a drunk Jim Carey, I'm just not going to invest in you.

I don't think I overcomplicated at all. I think it goes alot deeper than what you mentioned. I do have a hard time understanding Noid and communicating with him though which might have played into that. Generally don't understand most of his anoalogies which for some reason are mostly school based.

I've worked in schools. They are easiest ones to draw. It's aided by most of the wrestlers acting like the lamest kids in the grade. Seriously. I now 100% believe the story about Ted DiBiase walking in on Cody Rhodes playing with action figures.

You made the story sound unappealing by making it sound like who gets to lead The Bullet Club as the lead entertainer so they can run away with the circus and join WWE. Fignuts made it sound more about a rupture between egos and preexisting friendships not being respected, which makes a lot more sense in the context of professional wrestling as conflict drama.

I can understand why Cody, being who he is, would think that he should be the biggest gaijin in Japan, and when Kenny Omega tries to stand up to them kicking the shit out of his friend, he sees an opportunity to turn a section of the group against him so he can finally have glory. That makes perfect sense. Less sense to me is a professional wrestling company pushing the idea that these two guys want to be more robust entertainers than the other so that they can make money elsewhere. It sounds like the Edge/Booker T shampoo commercial feud.

where does the cody russo heat come from, I know eric bischoff and maby tony are going to be at starcast from mlw. maby cody wants jim cornett to make an apperence to shock the bullet club.

The prospect of Punk being involved in wrestling again was something where I always just said "I'll believe it when I see it." Even doing a signing in Chicago before All In wouldn't normally raise my eyebrows because he lives there and it would be a shrewd idea to try to capitalize on fans being in town.

But given how open he'd been about completely losing his passion for wrestling, to the point where he wouldn't even answer wrestling-related questions in interviews...that he's now doing a signing at a Pro Wrestling Tees shop does have me intrigued, especially given the working relationship between PWT and the Bucks.

I'm still not holding out any hope in him actually wrestling again until a match is booked. But him making an appearance and hitting a GTS for old time's sake now seems very feasible.

Press Conference for All-In

<iframe src="https://player.twitch.tv/?channel=beingtheelite" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" height="378" width="620"></iframe><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/beingtheelite?tt_content=text_link&tt_medium=live_embed" style="padding:2px 0px 4px; display:block; width:345px; font-weight:normal; font-size:10px; text-decoration:underline;">Watch live video from BeingTheElite on www.twitch.tv</a>

That's was you who was of that thought, I told you no multiple times in the thread that it wasn't the story. You seemed to not want to come off so I presented a way you could look at it like that if you wanted. What Fignuts said was pretty obvious answer but wasn't what started our conversation. You were talking about Copy's silly stuff, which are subplots and filler for the story as whole which I tried to explain. But yeah at its core is about their egos colliding.

Cody Rhodes comes off like a real dick on twitter tbh. Always snapping at people with retorts far exceeding what was said and can't have any sort of opinion on Dusty at all that he doesn't agree with.

Cody to challenge for NWA Championship. Sounds good to me. He could do a lot for that brand.

Rey Mysterio announced for the show.

The crowd during that press conference was awful, the worst of the worst fans chanting 'fuck you Vince'

Grow up.

Figured Cody would be facing the NWA Champion at All In. Was either that or another match with Omega. Didn't really announce much of anything else card wise though.

That sucks. Rey is cool, I wonder who he will face?

Wouldn't it make more sense to chant "fuck you Meltzer"? Since it was his doubts that spurred the show?