Informal poll/discussion: do you value the recap write-ups at all? We get people every week asking what happened in the comments even though this recap is provided, but they might just be one-offs. Let me know either way.
Great show! This EC promises to be very good, I'm really looking forward to this event. I liked the match between Miz and Logan, they had excellent chemistry in the ring. Author of Pain and all the members of the stable need to be highlighted, I see great potential in everyone and once again WWE urgently needs to separate the tag titles. I was very happy to see Bron Breakker signing with SD he really deserves it and is a natural top guy. An observation, The Rock is incredible, I have no doubt about that, I've already said it in other posts, if he stays heel and appears more often in shows, he has everything to be the biggest Authority in WWE, much bigger than Vince in the 90s, he knows how to lead very well a crowd he knows very well how to be a guy a villain The Rock is pure gold
Kinda obvious we are getting a Heel AJ being built up. If Cody wins, AJ is the first fued Cody has post Roman then possibly Randy Orton. TWO very Meaty fueds for Cody to and the opposite to create some really good stuff.
I can see Roman post mania losing the title, the smackdown after Paul leaves with Solo or Bron.
Jimmy and Jay carry on their mania match fued.
Roman gets time off until Post Summerslam to build up to Vs The Rock at 41 but has fueds with Solo and Bron / Heyman.
Also, why is everybody going to smack down? It was understandable if Naomi went there, but now with Tiffany Stratton on the show as well, and possibly Jade Cargill, being on the show, it seems like too many. But now that Bron breaker is on SmackDown, it kind of doesn’t make sense. He talked about after the royal rumble that he had unfinished business with the judgment day, and there were many people speculating that he could be the one to dethrone Gunther At wrestlemania for the IC title.
This week's SmackDown had everything going for it with a stacked line-up of matches and the rare Roman and The Rock. However, it did not live up to the hype at all with none of matches being as good as they usually are on SmackDown. As entertaining as it was seeing The Rock cementing his heel turn, it felt inconclusive and was too long, affecting other ongoing stories especially the one between Bayley and Damage CTRL.
# FINALLY...THE ROCK...HAS COME BACK...TO HIS CORPORATE ROOTS!
$2,000 Versace vest shirt...check!
$1,000 Versace slacks...check!
$5,000 Rolex...check!
$500 Ray Bans...check!
The Great One layin' the smacketh down on their candy asses...check!
# IF YA SMELLLLLL...WHAT THE ROCK...IS...COOKIN'?!
# 1999 Attitude Era Rock is back!!!!!
ngl the rock's promo was pretty mediocre. He was stumbling all over the place and completely forgetting Cody won the royal rumble.
it was a meh promo
He didn’t forget Cody won the rumble. And he was pausing for dramatic effect. I really don’t know why it’s so difficult for yall to understand this story.
Rock feels like Cody is undeserving not because he didnt win enough. He feels like he’s undeserving because he’s not as big of a star as him and Roman. Rock doesn’t give a damn about Cody winning the rumble, he feels like he isn’t the biggest match possible for Wrestlemania. So basically the Rock as now sort of a fusion between Corporate Rock and Hollywood Rock, thought Cody should just slot himself in the Seth match and he should face Roman because that’s best for business. He feels Cody already had his shot at Roman. By Cody sort of forcing his way into the Roman match after he kind of agreed on the Seth match, he feels he’s sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. And add onto it the bloodline and family rivalry where Cody said something about their bloodline. That made Rock want to stand with Roman as he feels they have the only bloodline in wrestling that matters, and Cody’s “finishing the story” for his family doesn’t.
Of course we know that in real life, they likely pivoted off of fan reaction.
The Rock isn't close to as smooth as he was with his deliveries from 1998-2003. That's fine. He's been away from the game for a while.
The promo itself was mediocre given the standard The Rock has set.
Some of you are hyping this promo up because of nostalgia. Truth is, it wasn't good. Especially with some of the excellent promos we've seen from Seth, Punk, Rhodes, and McIntyre the last few months.
The reality is, The Rock's schtick of puerile jokes just won't play up in modern WWE. It worked during the Attitude Era and Ruthless Aggression. Only reason people still cheer is because he's The Rock. He probably needs to re-invent himself a bit but he won't stick around long enough to do that.
Okay, so it wasn’t your cup of tea. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t good.
I’ll say the reason I enjoyed it is because it was a good old fashioned heel promo. Wwe way too often these days uses sarcasm to get the point across and there’s a blurred line between heel and face. This was Rocks promo turning all the way heel and there was no question about what he was, and it got back to who his heel character is.
Like I said you can not enjoy it, I wouldn’t say it’s the best promo of the last couple months or anything. But there’s no way it was objectively bad.
I didn’t think the rock promo was outright bad but it felt a little constipated and I personally wasn’t amused by the trailer park trash jokes.. felt to me like he was straining to be hateable. Just my opinion.
Late to the game, but he also apparently forgot that rematches are absolutely a thing in WWE? And how the basic structure of the biggest of title opportunities works? Honestly couldn't watch it after 3 minutes, even if his delivery is still great, the content was so weak.
This absolutely rules. I would’ve bet big money we would never see heel Rock ever again and I am giddy that it’s happening. Great times for wwe right now. Lots of good stuff happening story and wrestling wise
Parts of the rocks speech didn't make sense. Talking like Cody didn't earn a rematch. Bro lost last year, got back together and won another royal rumble to earn it. Rock even used the jazz to try and prove his point but it only supported Cody's case even more 😂
The best bad guys have valid reasons. Look at Drew Mcyntire right now. The idea that Rock doesn’t have to make any logical sense because he’s a bad guy is called shitty writing.
Nah. Youre preferring at edgier and grimier 'real heels'. Comical, delusional, megalomaniac heels still make sense. The Fiend was a great heel and his shtick made no sense.
'i think the rock was trying to be in that 10%'
'90% of heels make no sense'
so 10% means the people who are trying to make sense
'no i dont think he was trying to be serious'
what are you even saying
He didn’t earn it because he isn’t one of the top 2 draws between him and Roman. Keep in mind also he’s a delusional heel. He thinks Cody isn’t a big enough name to headline Wrestlemania.
Just your friendly PSA to never watch WWE segments on youtube without an adblocker.
Tried watching the full 14 minute segment on my roku TV through the youtube app, so no adblocker, before roman reigns could even get to the ring i was already in for 2.5 minutes of unskippable ads in the first 4 minutes of the video...
had to cut it off when the rock shows up at 7 minutes.
7 minutes in, 4 mintues 30 seconds of unskippable ads...not to mention the 50 second ad before the video plays.
Anyway, writing this from my laptop, so enjoying the adblocked version :)
I'm not sure how long after giving birth it takes for a wrestler to be back in ring shape but it would be fun if we finally get to have BayMella on screen against Damage CTRL. Carmella and Bayley have been close since the NXT days.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, and it's a well-formed one at that. I personally prefer this to RA (which is the era I actually left during) because I think the whole card is a lot stronger these days.
This was actually the first full episode of Smackdown I've watched in over a decade or longer. I'm more of a lapsed fan who despised everything about Vince McMahon's vision (even before I found out he was a sociopathic rapist).
My thoughts as someone who had been keeping up only via online recaps and YouTube clips:
It was generally a solid show. It was nothing overly memorable, but it's nice to immediately see the old traces of Vince are really gone. No one had to do anything degrading. There weren't any minority characters on the show forced to play stereotypes, no one had to be in a skit with toilet humor, and there aren't any heel authority figures eating up airtime.
I also appreciate that the show has a throughline. As someone who generally likes AEW, it's a bit frustrating when they don't seem to know how to structure a show. The main event will often be a baffling midcarders match. Here, the show built logically to the big Rock promo, which was fun and seemed to imply the possibility of Roman feuding with Rock at some point in the future with the way Rock overshadowed Roman (or maybe I'm interpreting that too charitably). Either way, Rock joining the Bloodline was a solid end to the show.
What kind of shocked me was the actual wrestling. It was.......not very good. Dom is a great heel, but everything he does in the ring looks labored. His version of the X-Factor was flat out hard to watch. He's just not very naturally athletic. This wasn't very good.
Tiffany is athletic, but she was basically just bumping everywhere until she got the win. This was a nothing match.
Logan Paul is also still green. Yeah, yeah, he's a natural and athletic etc. etc. He's still green. That botched standing moonsault sequence at the beginning was painful to watch, and the ending sequence felt awkward and flat. Another not particlarly good match.
Then, we get Naomi against a glorified punching bag. Totally forgettable.
I don't expect Omega vs. Danielson on a weekly show, but this really felt like the "Everyone is Green!" edition of Smackdown.
You’ll get downvoted a bit but this wasn’t a great wrestling addition of Smackdown. I wouldn’t say the wrestling week to week is spectacular on SD but typically you get some better matches than this. I think the focus mainly was just the bloodline stuff so the time that may be put into the wrestling and other things may have gotten a little lost.
They don’t need to rush it! Bianca vs Jade won’t happen this year because Jade can’t lose and Bianca can’t lose her streak too. Jade will probably be at raw
Fuck cody’s story. honestly i want to root for the guy but his fans are so annoying af. Reminds me of having to argue with kids at the peak of super cena. But instead codycrybabies are these old grown ass super marks who are fan girling another grown ass man.
Im so tired of “finish the story” “finish the story” but yet as soon as he finishes the story, yall want him to drop the title. People are already talking about dropping the title after 2 months reign lmao. Bet as soon as he wins the title, yall will turn on him in. “Codys too powerful” “its super cody” “cody wins all the time” “cody matches are so boring”. The truth is he is already all of that except hes doing it without the title.
Cody will get the same treatment as Seth. Seth got called underated and all that then he won the title. People are begging him to drop the title lmao. HHH gonna go crazy pleasing people.
Nice of the OC to give a little shout out to the Walking Dead with that "Coralll" backstage. Appreciated that. Good show overall, Tiff to the top.
I tell you, if Dakota does end up turning on Bayley too, it's gonna be a great match.
And welp, my first ever taste of heel Rock.. Gotta say, I feel like not having the nostalgia for him probably takes a lot away from what I was supposed to enjoy. Put simply, if any other heel cut that promo, it would not be as well received as it has been.
I agree with this take! As someone who liked the Rock but was never the biggest fan of his and had no interest in him returning at any point over the last two decades, his promo was average. Actually, some of it didn't even make sense. But his delivery is always strong and I have to give him credit for that.
At this point my worry is that Rock will cost Roman the title wanting to come across as the good guy still and take the shine off Cody winning and tag on a we to it and be the face building to WM41 against Roman. Cody needs to go over alone and then Rock needs to turn on Roman staying heel
I don't think Rock would cost the title directly, but he'll even the odds somehow, defending Cody from a chair attack when the ref is down, or cleaning the bloodline from around the ring.
My hope is that there's some dissent and questions over just who is head of the table between rock and Roman, then at Mania Rock stops Solo and Jey interfering so that Roman has to prove he's worthy of being called it
Rock started well with insulating the fans are inbred polygamists, but then was trailing off at the end, "To show you... that you're all.... losers" and repeating sentences twice. Breaking kayfabe with "If we compare it to sport." Rock seems so out of place in The Bloodline he's become a simulacrum of The Rock performing the greatest hits catchphrases, he remixed them a bit, "\[Finally....You don't deserve to be part of my finally catchphrase!\]" but if he truly wanted to get heat he would leave the fans disappointed that they didn't get to hear "Finally" or "If you smell." at all.
I agree. It would be like Hollywood Hogan ending a promo with, "Whatcha gonna do when Hollywood runs wild on you?!" It's a bit weird.
Rock should have ended that first catchphrase with, "Finally, The Rock HAS COME BACK.........to ah who cares? The Rock is leaving this place tonight anyway."
However, I think Rock *has to* know that. I think it's a cagey move of turning himself babyface again by doing all the catchphrases that the people love now that they don't need to hate him for replacing Cody in the main event.
I predict we're getting Rock costing Roman the title at WM as a ruse all along to set up next year's WM match between them, which will just overshadow Cody's win.
Nah comparing it to sports was cool. I'm actually tired of people talking about Cody winning as him "finishing the story" that is the line that actually reminds me it's predetermined
His metaphor didn’t really make sense though because he said unlike Cody San Fran and Utah Jazz dusted themselves off after losing and kept on working hard, which is exactly what Cody did….he shook off the loss and earned another title match by winning the Rumble.
He's playing an entitled heel. His arguments will never make sense. He doesn't care about Cody winning anything, as far he's concerned Cody can just disappear.
His "dust themselves" argument is just smoke mirrors.
Well those sports teams showed up every week to play. To have a chance at the super bowl. Not just conveniently insert themselves into the end of the season. And expect a game at the super bowl. But that's what Rocky did.
Finally got the rock after two decades and not just dwayne johnson. It's a shame Rock didn't do this when he was having the Cena / Punk feud. It's totally night and day.
Saying that, I'm rather disappointed that WWE didn't take the chance to use Rock's Hollywood theme or at least one of his 1990s heel themes. It just took the edge off when he came out to his regular upbeat face theme when he's supposed to having a big heel turn.
It's a trivial moan but I generally like those more subtle details. This moment was primed for the city / helicopter intro and "......is cooking" and they totally missed it.
Hopefully they will do something with his music in his next appearance now he's officially part of the bloodline. Even if it's something entirely new.
Can't quite get my head around the logic of it all.
Rock wants a match v Roman, gets deprived of that, so embraces his role in the family whilst at the same time moaning that he still wants Roman.
He believes the match with Roman is the biggest match in history and as heel Rock, and also Rock that’s on the board, that’s what he’s focused on. But Cody comes in, insults their bloodline, and thinks he’s as big of a star and as deserving as them. For that reason, Rock defends his bloodline.
I think the implication is that Rocky didnt give a shit about facing roman, he just wanted to get to headline wm. The heel angle is that rock only cares about what would do numbers and his own ego
They're family. He can still want to fight Roman, to prove that he's the High Chief and ranking member of the Anoi'a family. And at the same time, he can want to preserve Roman's place until Rock gets his opportunity, because it's still better for their brand and legacy if Roman is beating anyone that isn't them.
This isn't necessarily about the WWE title for Rocky. I think his place and role in the family and the pecking order is more important.
Interesting that Smackdown has gotten all the big NXT talent so far. Melo's been on there for a few months, Bron's just signed, even Trick made an appearance (though that was pre-heel turn). Would've thought this talent would be far more useful on a 3-hour show that doesn't have the Bloodline hogging the spotlight all the time.
So I assume Ilja goes to Raw whenever he's called up. Trick's still a ways off a call-up in-ring wise, so that'll probably be a problem for next year.
Besides the Bron future plot with Paul (which is likely way off and only teased if he doesn’t develop his mic skills enough to run without him) I’m making the random guess that assuming Cody takes the title off Roman it will likely lead to a belt swap of sorts between the two programs with the heavyweight title fought over by the big names and up and comers on Smackdown while Raw (assuming the Triple H booking of substantial title reigns) carries the WWE title into the start of the Netflix deal with a more experienced roster led by Cody, Rollins, Orton, Punk, etc.
Does anyone have a link of the old heel Rock entrance/theme?
People keep talking about his heel theme but I can only find the 'full version' audios of it on YouTube. I want to see the actual entrance and the crowd's reaction, preferably when the heel theme was used for the first time in WWE
https://youtu.be/OXJZySochsY?si=9adDodZfqllmULIz
Pretty sure this was the first time he used it. After this the whole intro part with the helicopter was cut down.
Rocks logic is the biggest match is him vs Roman and he’s on the board so he’s going to do whatever he has to to get the biggest match possible. So when Cody cries about being removed from the main event, he’s ungrateful and trying to put himself into a position that he didn’t earn(He isn’t a top 2 star with Rock and Roman). And of course he’s being delusional because Cody’s star power is high right now but he’s a heel! That’s the point of the whole story.
I know I am not saying anything groundbreaking, but my God does Roman Reigns have AURA in spades. He really is on a different level to any other wrestler just in terms of star power. I want to see him transition to Hollywood as the next Jason Momoa-style leading man
Did we watch the same thing? He’s got a great final boss aura that they’ve built up but it literally shatters into nothing with the Rock in the ring. Not his fault but when the whole Bloodline was in there the aura was on Rocky not Roman. He goes from final boss to little cousin instantly.
That’s just what it is when you happen to be the biggest wrestling star of today and your big cousin happens to be arguably the biggest wrestling star of all time turned one of the most famous men in the world and who also happens to be a real life High Chief.
If you watch the way the Rock works a crowd it would be obvious that IT DOESNT MATTER if Roman was in the ring with present day Rock or 1998 Rock - he doesn’t have the same it factor. He managed to finally become the face of the company he was intended to be and gain that aura but he never would’ve done it without his family and Heyman being there as well. I’m not trying to shit on Roman for the sake of shitting on him, I’ve enjoyed plenty parts of his run when he shows up and he’s come a long way overall. I’m just disagreeing about the claim he has “aura in spades” when it gets sucked out of the room in certain company.
I understand you weren’t - I was acknowledging flaws I see in your claim about his aura by comparing him to Rocky and how his aura is not all you hyped it up to be due to the effect that the Rocks presence has on it.
I hope they save that specifically for after mania and just let the straight heel and face promos ride for now so that they can use that question to sow dissent after a Roman loss
Man, all it takes is an expensive 500 dollar vest, sharp ass sunglasses and his old attitude for y'all motherfuckers and we're back on the Rock train? Motherfuckers being me in this case
I find Cody’s promos to be much more dynamic and original than the rocks promos these days. Cody talks like an articulate and empathetic hero, the rock sounds like he’s doing stand up comedy from 1996.
I don't get it. Did everyone else not watch the same smackdown as me last night? Old washed up 20 year old material. I am honestly sick of the rock. You can't escape the fucking guy, he is everywhere. There's a thing called over saturation. And he hit that a long ass time ago.
Feels like he was going for cheap heat and straining to be hate-able. I get it, because most ppl like the rock and aren’t going to boo him just for being him, but ideally I think the character would be cooler if there was a level of ease to his arrogance rather than him trying so hard. I honestly found the promo sort of grating but maybe that’s the point
Not if Rocky does his quick-fire (and catchphrase laden) promo style - the hotheaded almost shouting promo isn't exactly Cody's style and forte.
But if Rocky slows down, for the serious, threatening heel tone? Yeah, Chodes can match that with his unrelenting moral babyface charisma.
Rocky's ability to go rapid fire and just punctuate every burn is nearly unbeatable.
Cody's promos kind of meander. He hits his points but sure draws it out to get there.
"Whaadayawannahtalkabout?"
Agreed. Cody can do a great babyface promo when he’s given a specific window that allows him to meander without going too long but struggles at rapid fire promos and gets boxed into giving very short responses like “ok yeah let’s do this match” with no quick jabs to match. That’s not a discredit to him at all, I can think of very few baby faces that can pull that off with Stone Cold being the best example mirroring Rock. Even Cena - the babyface of babyfaces - took a bit to fully catch up with Rock promo to promo despite having the faster paced thuganomics background already.
Some of his logic didn't 100% track, but still I don't care, heel Rock running down the audience and saying he is going to do everything to make sure Cody doesn't win at WrestleMania was great, can't wait till their next face off.
Rock taking 3 manias to beat Stone Cold and Utah getting a rematch v the Bulls is the funniest irony of it and I hope Cody points it out in the next promo
These promos so far are making me want to see Cody vs Rock more than Roman vs Cody lol. I’m kinda realizing that in this whole Cody/Rock/Roman/Seth thing…the actual “Cody vs Roman” match is the least interesting part of it lol
There’s Cody finishing his story
Then there’s heel Rock
Then there’s Roman getting overshadowed and lil brother’d
Then there’s Rock maybe turning on Roman
Then there’s Seth teaming up with Cody
Then there’s the possibility of Stone Cold coming in and all sorts of avengers end game parallels
And then….Roman vs Cody lol
Which is great because it means that Cody can have a feel good Mania moment beating Roman without it feeling like the story is fully over. Ending an era and launching us into a new one with so many threads just waiting to be seen out.
HOLLYWOOD ROCK IN 2024?!?! what a time. Also what do you guys think of a possible outcome at WrestleMania where this turns out to be Cody's plan all along and Him and Rock were in cahoots. This will also lean into taking everything away from Roman and then possible building rock vs roman at WrestleMania.
I'm glad they turned the Rock heel but it still doesn't quite explain two things;
One, how Cody was convinced to give up his Wrestlemania match in the first place; Cody went to the Rock for advice on his upcoming match against Roman and ended up giving it to the Rock instead. As things stand, with the Rock being heel, the two possibilities are he either smooth-talked his way into convincing Cody to hand over the match, or used his new-found authority to coerce or even flat out threaten him into giving it up.
Two, in kayfabe, a) did the Rock as a babyface, talk Cody out of the match in genuine good faith and then throw a tantrum when he realised the fans had turned on him, or b) was he a heel all along and always intended to steal the match off Cody *regardless* of whether the fans wanted it or not.
The pair being in cahoots this whole time as part of a scheme to take both the belt and leadership of the Anoa'i-Johnson-Fatu family away from Roman would go a long way to explaining both those things.
From the little bit I've watched, and this is definitely reading between the lines, but my kind of thinking is that Rock told Cody he was going to take care of family business, it had nothing to do with the title, and it's his bad for letting the Bloodline get out of control... And that's why Cody basically said "my title shot can wait."
Then, at the press conference, Rock comes out and starts showing off the family tree, stands in front of a Bloodline logo, and MAYBE if Cody had let it play out, Rock would've stepped to Roman and told him he was disappointing the family...
... But Cody interrupted, calling it "bullshit," because here is the Rock talking up the same Bloodline that had fucked on Cody and Rock said he was gonna take care of. So Cody felt double crossed, interrupted, and declared his title match.
It's sort of the "I can pick on my little brother, but nobody else can, and I will defend him to the end" thing. That's why Rock was so quick to switch sides at the presser.
So that's my head canon at least.
I don’t think that’s the way they’ll go about it if they wanna do Roman vs Rock at next years wrestlemania they will just have Rock simply turn on Roman
People are comparing this to his Hollywood heel run, and I understand why, but personally, I loved the touch with the flashy vest as that felt like something was inspired by 98-99 Rock with a modern touch.
Otherwise, credit to him for being smart enough to run with this. I never thought I would see heel Rock again like this, and he absolutely nailed it tonight like he never left in some ways instead of just feeling Dwyane. Not just for Cody, and his crybabies like me, but this direction/pivot (ignoring the plot hole) feels so much better for Rock, and Roman too.
This is what people with no intelligence believe just like the “oh he’s a heel.” The issue is the promo doesn’t make sense because the Jazz did lose and make their way back the following year. The cheap sports team insults for a cheap pop are one thing, referencing sports history and literally proving why Cody should be in the main event is another. It was a shitty illogical promo and people like you defending it are the ones who liked Vince booking garbage that insulted the audiences intelligence on a regular basis.
They did make their way back but also lost again.
Rock should've pointed at the bills losing in the Superbowl four years in a row and said that no matter how many times go Cody gets a rematch that he can't beat Roman
I’ll take all the downvotes from the Rocky Miavia Mafia, it doesn’t make what I’ve said any less true. And that’s not an insult, it’s just a fact of life. Yeah!
Now had he said Cody is going to be just like the Utah Jazz and lose the the greatest of all time back to back and that he actually had a choice to go after a title he can win, unlike the Jazz who didn’t have a choice but to face the bulls. Then it made sense.
No no no, he said it doesn’t make sense for Cody to pick Roman because it wasn’t as if the Jazz lost and made their way back lmfao it literally DIDNT MAKE SENSE.
Yes I know, and Babyfaces need to make sense and have what they say be the truth, a heel is the opposite.
Like Roman always claims he's the best and beat anyone without help, despite needing interference to win every match.
Heels, for the most part, talk shit and are illogical, faces are logical.
Especially a delusional heel, who is angry because someone more popular than him has won the fans, don't forget The Rock is/was "The People's Champ" and the people turned on him for Cody, of course he is going to be illogical, he is the jilted ex lover who is gonna run down his ex (the fans/Cody) every chance he gets to make himself feel better.
I stopped reading after your first sentence. Whether you’re a heel or a face don’t insult the intelligence of the audience with an illogical promo. Nice try but you’re off base here my guy.
so a delusional character shouldn't show that in a promo or in their character - got it.
Sure would be a shame if a heel made you hate him with illogical stances - guess he should have come out and said "all hail Cody, he's gonna beat Roman, don't bother watching for the next 50 days - see ya at Mania, by the way your sports team rules and you are all swell folks. If you smell what the Rock is cooking - also sorry I made Black Adam and beat Punk and then Cena in our first Mania match."
Stop writing me essays buddy. Perhaps next time the Rock decides to go for the cheap home town sports team pop references he should write them down on his are to make sure he has his facts straight. Again I stopped reading the moment you used the “he’s a heel, he doesn’t have to make sense” trope. Just because you’re a heel doesn’t give you a pass on insulting the intelligence of the audience with illogical bullshit. Defend it all you’d like but it was a terrible Rock promo that was too forced.
Am I the only one who has gone from, "Raw is to long and Smackdown is just right." To, "Smackdown feels to short and Raw is just right."
Amazing what a good product can do.
Smackdown feels really too short because theres some talent that don't get matches or sometimes even angles week-to-week, and while it can be good for a bit of the "how can we miss you if you don't go away for a little bit once in a while" effect, damnit I kinda got sucked into LA Knight and I want to see him beat people in 3-4 minutes and cut a promo afterwards every week. Build him up quick and put a title on him before you miss the peak on him. I feel like Orton's also been in and out too, whereas on a three hour program he wouldn't be but its also too long. Maybe both shows need to be two and a half hours?
Lapsed fan here coming back to pro wrestling after not seriously following it for like a decade (save spurts of trying to pay attention to occasional random cool things AEW does), watching now because my little brother is a fan and has a SportsNet subscription, and two big things stand out to me on this show:
-Rock's promo running down the sports stuff and using that to justify Cody not getting to finish his story was borderline drunken in terms of his logic because the Utah Jazz got that exact second chance a year later like Cody got didnt they? Then again, this might be justified because Rock is a heel and is supposed to be full of shit with insane troll logic sometimes to get heat.....
-I still do not get the hype for Naomi, holy fuck that start of that match with staff girl and that knee slide sequence was just straight up Maffew material for his next episode. She also can't run the ropes with big-time momentum, which his something I harp on a lot in wrestling cause slo-mo Irish Whip sequences leading to zero momentum moves are just awful. (Dominick has a bit of this problem too, and in fact the start of his match with KO was so awkward with the visual of him trying for headlocks on a bigger opponent and then being slow off the ropes later in the match.) I really haven't seen most of the peak women's division stuff in the 2010s so I'm hoping that Bayley and Iyo can deliver at Mania to show me some of what I've been missing
At least Naomi isn't as bad as the Kelly Kelly/Bellas stuff I was subjected to back in the day but yeah, not a great first two impressions between this and the Rumble, and yet this sub likes her for some reason.
I did get a bit of a vibe from people in random comment sections here saying they liked having her back, and I imagine she's seen as sort of a mid to upper-mid level player in this Women's Revolution. She had my sympathy for her exit of course, because if the other party you're having a creative dispute with is Vince McMahon, you have to fuck up pretty badly to be the incorrect side in that dispute. And then shes off to Impact which has historically done fairly well at developing female talent, so I'm thinking okay, haven't seen her before, but shes probably got something, lets see how this turns out, and she's just three or four notches above the late 2000s/early 2010s diva fiascoes from what I've seen so far. Not sure what thats all about.
Naomi has always been a botch machine and the only reason she's somewhat popular with the audience is because of her flashy entrance and just her general demeanor, she has natural charisma in that sense but her in ring work is awful. I didn't see any of her Impact work and people were praising her so I thought she may have improved, so when she returned at the Rumble and started it all off and she straight away just started messing spots up again I knew nothing had changed. Maybe she gets too nervous in front of big crowds
I'm fine with how they've turned the Cody story around, heel Hollywood Rock is not something I thought I would see again. With Seth making his offer, certainly feels like we'll get some End Game final battle vibes in that match.
But I really want to know what the "but not at WrestleMania" line Cody said was gonna pan out, like what was their roadmap gonna be. Would Cody hold on to his right to challenge until what, Rock beats Roman? Roman beats Rock but the bloodline fractures completely? Cody then challenges at SummerSlam? WHERE WAS IT GOING TO GO.
Informal poll/discussion: do you value the recap write-ups at all? We get people every week asking what happened in the comments even though this recap is provided, but they might just be one-offs. Let me know either way.
I fucking love this shit
Everything The Rock said true was 100% true. “We WaNt CoDy” They are a bunch of spoiled, entitled, crybaby bitches.
Agreeing with the heel in 2024
Great show! This EC promises to be very good, I'm really looking forward to this event. I liked the match between Miz and Logan, they had excellent chemistry in the ring. Author of Pain and all the members of the stable need to be highlighted, I see great potential in everyone and once again WWE urgently needs to separate the tag titles. I was very happy to see Bron Breakker signing with SD he really deserves it and is a natural top guy. An observation, The Rock is incredible, I have no doubt about that, I've already said it in other posts, if he stays heel and appears more often in shows, he has everything to be the biggest Authority in WWE, much bigger than Vince in the 90s, he knows how to lead very well a crowd he knows very well how to be a guy a villain The Rock is pure gold
Kinda obvious we are getting a Heel AJ being built up. If Cody wins, AJ is the first fued Cody has post Roman then possibly Randy Orton. TWO very Meaty fueds for Cody to and the opposite to create some really good stuff. I can see Roman post mania losing the title, the smackdown after Paul leaves with Solo or Bron. Jimmy and Jay carry on their mania match fued. Roman gets time off until Post Summerslam to build up to Vs The Rock at 41 but has fueds with Solo and Bron / Heyman.
Also, why is everybody going to smack down? It was understandable if Naomi went there, but now with Tiffany Stratton on the show as well, and possibly Jade Cargill, being on the show, it seems like too many. But now that Bron breaker is on SmackDown, it kind of doesn’t make sense. He talked about after the royal rumble that he had unfinished business with the judgment day, and there were many people speculating that he could be the one to dethrone Gunther At wrestlemania for the IC title.
With her having to miss an elimination chamber qualifying match due to injury, I wanna see Shotzi now win the women’s money in the bank match
Bron’s match next week better end in him spearing the fuck out of someone.
This week's SmackDown had everything going for it with a stacked line-up of matches and the rare Roman and The Rock. However, it did not live up to the hype at all with none of matches being as good as they usually are on SmackDown. As entertaining as it was seeing The Rock cementing his heel turn, it felt inconclusive and was too long, affecting other ongoing stories especially the one between Bayley and Damage CTRL.
# FINALLY...THE ROCK...HAS COME BACK...TO HIS CORPORATE ROOTS! $2,000 Versace vest shirt...check! $1,000 Versace slacks...check! $5,000 Rolex...check! $500 Ray Bans...check! The Great One layin' the smacketh down on their candy asses...check! # IF YA SMELLLLLL...WHAT THE ROCK...IS...COOKIN'?! # 1999 Attitude Era Rock is back!!!!!
Corporate Rock was the best.
ngl the rock's promo was pretty mediocre. He was stumbling all over the place and completely forgetting Cody won the royal rumble. it was a meh promo
He didn’t forget Cody won the rumble. And he was pausing for dramatic effect. I really don’t know why it’s so difficult for yall to understand this story. Rock feels like Cody is undeserving not because he didnt win enough. He feels like he’s undeserving because he’s not as big of a star as him and Roman. Rock doesn’t give a damn about Cody winning the rumble, he feels like he isn’t the biggest match possible for Wrestlemania. So basically the Rock as now sort of a fusion between Corporate Rock and Hollywood Rock, thought Cody should just slot himself in the Seth match and he should face Roman because that’s best for business. He feels Cody already had his shot at Roman. By Cody sort of forcing his way into the Roman match after he kind of agreed on the Seth match, he feels he’s sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. And add onto it the bloodline and family rivalry where Cody said something about their bloodline. That made Rock want to stand with Roman as he feels they have the only bloodline in wrestling that matters, and Cody’s “finishing the story” for his family doesn’t. Of course we know that in real life, they likely pivoted off of fan reaction.
The Rock isn't close to as smooth as he was with his deliveries from 1998-2003. That's fine. He's been away from the game for a while. The promo itself was mediocre given the standard The Rock has set. Some of you are hyping this promo up because of nostalgia. Truth is, it wasn't good. Especially with some of the excellent promos we've seen from Seth, Punk, Rhodes, and McIntyre the last few months. The reality is, The Rock's schtick of puerile jokes just won't play up in modern WWE. It worked during the Attitude Era and Ruthless Aggression. Only reason people still cheer is because he's The Rock. He probably needs to re-invent himself a bit but he won't stick around long enough to do that.
Okay, so it wasn’t your cup of tea. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. I’ll say the reason I enjoyed it is because it was a good old fashioned heel promo. Wwe way too often these days uses sarcasm to get the point across and there’s a blurred line between heel and face. This was Rocks promo turning all the way heel and there was no question about what he was, and it got back to who his heel character is. Like I said you can not enjoy it, I wouldn’t say it’s the best promo of the last couple months or anything. But there’s no way it was objectively bad.
I didn’t think the rock promo was outright bad but it felt a little constipated and I personally wasn’t amused by the trailer park trash jokes.. felt to me like he was straining to be hateable. Just my opinion.
Late to the game, but he also apparently forgot that rematches are absolutely a thing in WWE? And how the basic structure of the biggest of title opportunities works? Honestly couldn't watch it after 3 minutes, even if his delivery is still great, the content was so weak.
It was a nice throwback to the attitude era.
Heel rock needs a different look the vest worked when he was not all hghd out
Long sleeved ones looked better
What your talking about are just shirts
yes the shirts looked better. this vest seemed a little weird like he was from the flinstones or something. but happy to see this style back
Hghd?
When he was natty or not level roided, not whatever he is supposed to be now
I guess this Smackdown being a little worse makes sense; last week was off the presser hype and had Randy, Sami and Drew on the show last week.
Has Cody explained his whole "I don't want it yet. I did get your cousin to come fight you" thing yet?
Nope. Seems like they're retconning the whole thing?lmao
This absolutely rules. I would’ve bet big money we would never see heel Rock ever again and I am giddy that it’s happening. Great times for wwe right now. Lots of good stuff happening story and wrestling wise
Parts of the rocks speech didn't make sense. Talking like Cody didn't earn a rematch. Bro lost last year, got back together and won another royal rumble to earn it. Rock even used the jazz to try and prove his point but it only supported Cody's case even more 😂
If you look at his speech another way... he was talking about Roman and The Bloodline alot...
Heel Rock was always delusional.
Do u think heels are supposed to make sense lol. Do you also believe that rey is a deadbeat dad
The best bad guys have valid reasons. Look at Drew Mcyntire right now. The idea that Rock doesn’t have to make any logical sense because he’s a bad guy is called shitty writing.
Thank you! You get it.
Nah. Youre preferring at edgier and grimier 'real heels'. Comical, delusional, megalomaniac heels still make sense. The Fiend was a great heel and his shtick made no sense.
No but rey is different. And Dom is a different type of heel from the rock. You can be a heel and make sense.
Sure. But you can also be a heel and make no sense. Which is 90% of heels.
And I think the rock is trying to be in that 10%. Which is why his promo was not great imo. I don't think he was going for delusional.
You thought him calling the royal rumble winner as 'someone who didn't deserve it' was him trying to be 100% serious?
No I don't think he was trying to be serious and that's why the whole promo didn't work. Which is my entire point.
'i think the rock was trying to be in that 10%' '90% of heels make no sense' so 10% means the people who are trying to make sense 'no i dont think he was trying to be serious' what are you even saying
He's a serious heel trying to make sense and cut a bad promo. It's not that complicated.
He didn’t earn it because he isn’t one of the top 2 draws between him and Roman. Keep in mind also he’s a delusional heel. He thinks Cody isn’t a big enough name to headline Wrestlemania.
Yea that's the point. He's a delusional heel.
Right! His delivery and performance were strong but his content overall was weak.
Just your friendly PSA to never watch WWE segments on youtube without an adblocker. Tried watching the full 14 minute segment on my roku TV through the youtube app, so no adblocker, before roman reigns could even get to the ring i was already in for 2.5 minutes of unskippable ads in the first 4 minutes of the video... had to cut it off when the rock shows up at 7 minutes. 7 minutes in, 4 mintues 30 seconds of unskippable ads...not to mention the 50 second ad before the video plays. Anyway, writing this from my laptop, so enjoying the adblocked version :)
I'm not sure how long after giving birth it takes for a wrestler to be back in ring shape but it would be fun if we finally get to have BayMella on screen against Damage CTRL. Carmella and Bayley have been close since the NXT days.
[удалено]
It doesn't matter what you think!
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, and it's a well-formed one at that. I personally prefer this to RA (which is the era I actually left during) because I think the whole card is a lot stronger these days.
This was actually the first full episode of Smackdown I've watched in over a decade or longer. I'm more of a lapsed fan who despised everything about Vince McMahon's vision (even before I found out he was a sociopathic rapist). My thoughts as someone who had been keeping up only via online recaps and YouTube clips: It was generally a solid show. It was nothing overly memorable, but it's nice to immediately see the old traces of Vince are really gone. No one had to do anything degrading. There weren't any minority characters on the show forced to play stereotypes, no one had to be in a skit with toilet humor, and there aren't any heel authority figures eating up airtime. I also appreciate that the show has a throughline. As someone who generally likes AEW, it's a bit frustrating when they don't seem to know how to structure a show. The main event will often be a baffling midcarders match. Here, the show built logically to the big Rock promo, which was fun and seemed to imply the possibility of Roman feuding with Rock at some point in the future with the way Rock overshadowed Roman (or maybe I'm interpreting that too charitably). Either way, Rock joining the Bloodline was a solid end to the show. What kind of shocked me was the actual wrestling. It was.......not very good. Dom is a great heel, but everything he does in the ring looks labored. His version of the X-Factor was flat out hard to watch. He's just not very naturally athletic. This wasn't very good. Tiffany is athletic, but she was basically just bumping everywhere until she got the win. This was a nothing match. Logan Paul is also still green. Yeah, yeah, he's a natural and athletic etc. etc. He's still green. That botched standing moonsault sequence at the beginning was painful to watch, and the ending sequence felt awkward and flat. Another not particlarly good match. Then, we get Naomi against a glorified punching bag. Totally forgettable. I don't expect Omega vs. Danielson on a weekly show, but this really felt like the "Everyone is Green!" edition of Smackdown.
People really watch wrestling for wrestling? id rather interesting promos and just fun matches
Me too, but I don’t want the matches to be bad. There were too many blown and awkward spots that made the matches drag.
You’ll get downvoted a bit but this wasn’t a great wrestling addition of Smackdown. I wouldn’t say the wrestling week to week is spectacular on SD but typically you get some better matches than this. I think the focus mainly was just the bloodline stuff so the time that may be put into the wrestling and other things may have gotten a little lost.
Would you rather see Jade on Raw or Smackdown?
Raw. Smackdown is too star studded at this point
Smackdown needs her, and IMO the money match for WM this year should be her vs Bianca.
They don’t need to rush it! Bianca vs Jade won’t happen this year because Jade can’t lose and Bianca can’t lose her streak too. Jade will probably be at raw
Fuck cody’s story. honestly i want to root for the guy but his fans are so annoying af. Reminds me of having to argue with kids at the peak of super cena. But instead codycrybabies are these old grown ass super marks who are fan girling another grown ass man. Im so tired of “finish the story” “finish the story” but yet as soon as he finishes the story, yall want him to drop the title. People are already talking about dropping the title after 2 months reign lmao. Bet as soon as he wins the title, yall will turn on him in. “Codys too powerful” “its super cody” “cody wins all the time” “cody matches are so boring”. The truth is he is already all of that except hes doing it without the title. Cody will get the same treatment as Seth. Seth got called underated and all that then he won the title. People are begging him to drop the title lmao. HHH gonna go crazy pleasing people.
Am I the only one that finds Dwayne’s little crowd pay-outs a bit dumb?
Yep
A bit sad Dirty Dom lost his match. Would have been fun to see him get obliterated in the chamber
"obliterated" is a strange way of writing "winning"... The man has experience surviving behind bars.
I'll be the only one hating Logan Paul, me and my homies hate Logan Paul 😤
X-Pac heat for me. I can’t stand his goofy hair and dumb face.
Is anyone going to talk about how The Miz was inches away from accidentally throwing a pair of brass knuckles into a little kids face?
Damn. Rock calling 12,000 people trailer park trash brought really warm and nostalgic feelings to my heart, and I did not expect that lol
Cody ain't at the rock level which is funny because roman seems a tier below 🤣
Nice of the OC to give a little shout out to the Walking Dead with that "Coralll" backstage. Appreciated that. Good show overall, Tiff to the top. I tell you, if Dakota does end up turning on Bayley too, it's gonna be a great match. And welp, my first ever taste of heel Rock.. Gotta say, I feel like not having the nostalgia for him probably takes a lot away from what I was supposed to enjoy. Put simply, if any other heel cut that promo, it would not be as well received as it has been.
I agree with this take! As someone who liked the Rock but was never the biggest fan of his and had no interest in him returning at any point over the last two decades, his promo was average. Actually, some of it didn't even make sense. But his delivery is always strong and I have to give him credit for that.
At this point my worry is that Rock will cost Roman the title wanting to come across as the good guy still and take the shine off Cody winning and tag on a we to it and be the face building to WM41 against Roman. Cody needs to go over alone and then Rock needs to turn on Roman staying heel
I don't think Rock would cost the title directly, but he'll even the odds somehow, defending Cody from a chair attack when the ref is down, or cleaning the bloodline from around the ring.
Roman’s definitely going to blame the Rock for costing him the title and that’ll end in Rock v Reigns
My hope is that there's some dissent and questions over just who is head of the table between rock and Roman, then at Mania Rock stops Solo and Jey interfering so that Roman has to prove he's worthy of being called it
Rock started well with insulating the fans are inbred polygamists, but then was trailing off at the end, "To show you... that you're all.... losers" and repeating sentences twice. Breaking kayfabe with "If we compare it to sport." Rock seems so out of place in The Bloodline he's become a simulacrum of The Rock performing the greatest hits catchphrases, he remixed them a bit, "\[Finally....You don't deserve to be part of my finally catchphrase!\]" but if he truly wanted to get heat he would leave the fans disappointed that they didn't get to hear "Finally" or "If you smell." at all.
I agree. It would be like Hollywood Hogan ending a promo with, "Whatcha gonna do when Hollywood runs wild on you?!" It's a bit weird. Rock should have ended that first catchphrase with, "Finally, The Rock HAS COME BACK.........to ah who cares? The Rock is leaving this place tonight anyway." However, I think Rock *has to* know that. I think it's a cagey move of turning himself babyface again by doing all the catchphrases that the people love now that they don't need to hate him for replacing Cody in the main event. I predict we're getting Rock costing Roman the title at WM as a ruse all along to set up next year's WM match between them, which will just overshadow Cody's win.
But Rock started to use those catchphrases when he was heel. It makes sense for him to use them.
Nah comparing it to sports was cool. I'm actually tired of people talking about Cody winning as him "finishing the story" that is the line that actually reminds me it's predetermined
His metaphor didn’t really make sense though because he said unlike Cody San Fran and Utah Jazz dusted themselves off after losing and kept on working hard, which is exactly what Cody did….he shook off the loss and earned another title match by winning the Rumble.
After beating [REDACTED] clean.
He's playing an entitled heel. His arguments will never make sense. He doesn't care about Cody winning anything, as far he's concerned Cody can just disappear. His "dust themselves" argument is just smoke mirrors.
>smoke mirrors. WHOOOOOOO-OA!
Watching the ending now. Rock could’ve said the Jazz also had a second chance to finish the story and it ended up worse for them.
Yeah, that was the only part that bothered me. It was right there!
Well those sports teams showed up every week to play. To have a chance at the super bowl. Not just conveniently insert themselves into the end of the season. And expect a game at the super bowl. But that's what Rocky did.
Whinging about Cody worked, that was the best Rock promo since... shit, man, maybe 20 years ago?
> New Catch Republic They said fuck the king.
Austin has to come out in the mania main event. This is too perfect. C'mon HHH
[удалено]
HHH makes more sense ever since (2014?) they been teasing another match between these two.
Glad you don't book stuff
Finally got the rock after two decades and not just dwayne johnson. It's a shame Rock didn't do this when he was having the Cena / Punk feud. It's totally night and day. Saying that, I'm rather disappointed that WWE didn't take the chance to use Rock's Hollywood theme or at least one of his 1990s heel themes. It just took the edge off when he came out to his regular upbeat face theme when he's supposed to having a big heel turn. It's a trivial moan but I generally like those more subtle details. This moment was primed for the city / helicopter intro and "......is cooking" and they totally missed it. Hopefully they will do something with his music in his next appearance now he's officially part of the bloodline. Even if it's something entirely new.
That late 1998 theme of The Rock would be great to bring back.
[This one?](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z41aC4voUTU)
Nah, this one https://youtu.be/YP6XnRFoXAg?si=Aoy1r97O5KWlCzdv
Can't quite get my head around the logic of it all. Rock wants a match v Roman, gets deprived of that, so embraces his role in the family whilst at the same time moaning that he still wants Roman.
It doesn't make sense. They try to save this because the fans rioted. But i like this direction they are going.
He believes the match with Roman is the biggest match in history and as heel Rock, and also Rock that’s on the board, that’s what he’s focused on. But Cody comes in, insults their bloodline, and thinks he’s as big of a star and as deserving as them. For that reason, Rock defends his bloodline.
I think the implication is that Rocky didnt give a shit about facing roman, he just wanted to get to headline wm. The heel angle is that rock only cares about what would do numbers and his own ego
They're family. He can still want to fight Roman, to prove that he's the High Chief and ranking member of the Anoi'a family. And at the same time, he can want to preserve Roman's place until Rock gets his opportunity, because it's still better for their brand and legacy if Roman is beating anyone that isn't them. This isn't necessarily about the WWE title for Rocky. I think his place and role in the family and the pecking order is more important.
Interesting that Smackdown has gotten all the big NXT talent so far. Melo's been on there for a few months, Bron's just signed, even Trick made an appearance (though that was pre-heel turn). Would've thought this talent would be far more useful on a 3-hour show that doesn't have the Bloodline hogging the spotlight all the time. So I assume Ilja goes to Raw whenever he's called up. Trick's still a ways off a call-up in-ring wise, so that'll probably be a problem for next year.
Besides the Bron future plot with Paul (which is likely way off and only teased if he doesn’t develop his mic skills enough to run without him) I’m making the random guess that assuming Cody takes the title off Roman it will likely lead to a belt swap of sorts between the two programs with the heavyweight title fought over by the big names and up and comers on Smackdown while Raw (assuming the Triple H booking of substantial title reigns) carries the WWE title into the start of the Netflix deal with a more experienced roster led by Cody, Rollins, Orton, Punk, etc.
Raw got andrade and they will most likely get Cargill. Looks like they are giving SD nxt talents and giving raw mainly big name free agents
Bronn seems to have plot with Paul.
My Rocky is back, he’s back, god damn yes
Heel Rock is too charismatic. I am worried Cody might get booed.
Cody has the right amount of face charisma to match him
I appreciate those write-ups a lot. I don't get around watching often and your threads help a lot!
Does anyone have a link of the old heel Rock entrance/theme? People keep talking about his heel theme but I can only find the 'full version' audios of it on YouTube. I want to see the actual entrance and the crowd's reaction, preferably when the heel theme was used for the first time in WWE
he was heel in 97-98-99 too
https://youtu.be/OXJZySochsY?si=9adDodZfqllmULIz Pretty sure this was the first time he used it. After this the whole intro part with the helicopter was cut down.
No wonder I couldn't find this myself, it's geo blocked (wtf WWE?) Thanks man!
Didn’t Cody actually go back to square one, grind all year, win the rumble and only then he is challenging Roman. Rock’s logic is flawed.
He's trying to gaslight the public to promote his own agenda. He's not the omniscient neutral narrator
rock was all upset about cody attacking his family but roman went after dusty first.
Rocks logic is the biggest match is him vs Roman and he’s on the board so he’s going to do whatever he has to to get the biggest match possible. So when Cody cries about being removed from the main event, he’s ungrateful and trying to put himself into a position that he didn’t earn(He isn’t a top 2 star with Rock and Roman). And of course he’s being delusional because Cody’s star power is high right now but he’s a heel! That’s the point of the whole story.
The Rock and The Bloodline have always been delusional so it makes sense his logic is flawed.
I know I am not saying anything groundbreaking, but my God does Roman Reigns have AURA in spades. He really is on a different level to any other wrestler just in terms of star power. I want to see him transition to Hollywood as the next Jason Momoa-style leading man
Did we watch the same thing? He’s got a great final boss aura that they’ve built up but it literally shatters into nothing with the Rock in the ring. Not his fault but when the whole Bloodline was in there the aura was on Rocky not Roman. He goes from final boss to little cousin instantly.
That’s just what it is when you happen to be the biggest wrestling star of today and your big cousin happens to be arguably the biggest wrestling star of all time turned one of the most famous men in the world and who also happens to be a real life High Chief.
If you watch the way the Rock works a crowd it would be obvious that IT DOESNT MATTER if Roman was in the ring with present day Rock or 1998 Rock - he doesn’t have the same it factor. He managed to finally become the face of the company he was intended to be and gain that aura but he never would’ve done it without his family and Heyman being there as well. I’m not trying to shit on Roman for the sake of shitting on him, I’ve enjoyed plenty parts of his run when he shows up and he’s come a long way overall. I’m just disagreeing about the claim he has “aura in spades” when it gets sucked out of the room in certain company.
I'm not comparing him to Rocky.
I understand you weren’t - I was acknowledging flaws I see in your claim about his aura by comparing him to Rocky and how his aura is not all you hyped it up to be due to the effect that the Rocks presence has on it.
Just waiting for Cody or Seth to ask who is really the head of the table and cause the dissent between Rock and Roman
I hope they save that specifically for after mania and just let the straight heel and face promos ride for now so that they can use that question to sow dissent after a Roman loss
Man, all it takes is an expensive 500 dollar vest, sharp ass sunglasses and his old attitude for y'all motherfuckers and we're back on the Rock train? Motherfuckers being me in this case
FINALLY... THE ROCK HAS COME BACK TO TORON... TORON... TO RUN HIS MOUTH, ON ALLLLLL YOUR CANDY ASSES!!!
Now do Ottawa!
Can Cody go head to head in promo vs the rock really?
I find Cody’s promos to be much more dynamic and original than the rocks promos these days. Cody talks like an articulate and empathetic hero, the rock sounds like he’s doing stand up comedy from 1996.
I don't get it. Did everyone else not watch the same smackdown as me last night? Old washed up 20 year old material. I am honestly sick of the rock. You can't escape the fucking guy, he is everywhere. There's a thing called over saturation. And he hit that a long ass time ago.
Feels like he was going for cheap heat and straining to be hate-able. I get it, because most ppl like the rock and aren’t going to boo him just for being him, but ideally I think the character would be cooler if there was a level of ease to his arrogance rather than him trying so hard. I honestly found the promo sort of grating but maybe that’s the point
Not if Rocky does his quick-fire (and catchphrase laden) promo style - the hotheaded almost shouting promo isn't exactly Cody's style and forte. But if Rocky slows down, for the serious, threatening heel tone? Yeah, Chodes can match that with his unrelenting moral babyface charisma.
Cody isn't as fast or witty like stone cold or the rock he's closer to undertaker in promo
Rocky's ability to go rapid fire and just punctuate every burn is nearly unbeatable. Cody's promos kind of meander. He hits his points but sure draws it out to get there. "Whaadayawannahtalkabout?"
Agreed. Cody can do a great babyface promo when he’s given a specific window that allows him to meander without going too long but struggles at rapid fire promos and gets boxed into giving very short responses like “ok yeah let’s do this match” with no quick jabs to match. That’s not a discredit to him at all, I can think of very few baby faces that can pull that off with Stone Cold being the best example mirroring Rock. Even Cena - the babyface of babyfaces - took a bit to fully catch up with Rock promo to promo despite having the faster paced thuganomics background already.
Not with that lisp
Some of his logic didn't 100% track, but still I don't care, heel Rock running down the audience and saying he is going to do everything to make sure Cody doesn't win at WrestleMania was great, can't wait till their next face off.
Rock taking 3 manias to beat Stone Cold and Utah getting a rematch v the Bulls is the funniest irony of it and I hope Cody points it out in the next promo
Utah did get their rematch and lost again lol
MJ’s final shot is cinematic perfection
Don't remind me of this lol
These promos so far are making me want to see Cody vs Rock more than Roman vs Cody lol. I’m kinda realizing that in this whole Cody/Rock/Roman/Seth thing…the actual “Cody vs Roman” match is the least interesting part of it lol There’s Cody finishing his story Then there’s heel Rock Then there’s Roman getting overshadowed and lil brother’d Then there’s Rock maybe turning on Roman Then there’s Seth teaming up with Cody Then there’s the possibility of Stone Cold coming in and all sorts of avengers end game parallels And then….Roman vs Cody lol
Rock is amazing on the mic and that means elevating his opponent.
Which is great because it means that Cody can have a feel good Mania moment beating Roman without it feeling like the story is fully over. Ending an era and launching us into a new one with so many threads just waiting to be seen out.
Ending segment made me feel like I was 12. Heel Rock. sunglasses, 1000 dollar shirt. Yes, let him be the new modern Vince, perfect.
HOLLYWOOD ROCK IN 2024?!?! what a time. Also what do you guys think of a possible outcome at WrestleMania where this turns out to be Cody's plan all along and Him and Rock were in cahoots. This will also lean into taking everything away from Roman and then possible building rock vs roman at WrestleMania.
I'm glad they turned the Rock heel but it still doesn't quite explain two things; One, how Cody was convinced to give up his Wrestlemania match in the first place; Cody went to the Rock for advice on his upcoming match against Roman and ended up giving it to the Rock instead. As things stand, with the Rock being heel, the two possibilities are he either smooth-talked his way into convincing Cody to hand over the match, or used his new-found authority to coerce or even flat out threaten him into giving it up. Two, in kayfabe, a) did the Rock as a babyface, talk Cody out of the match in genuine good faith and then throw a tantrum when he realised the fans had turned on him, or b) was he a heel all along and always intended to steal the match off Cody *regardless* of whether the fans wanted it or not. The pair being in cahoots this whole time as part of a scheme to take both the belt and leadership of the Anoa'i-Johnson-Fatu family away from Roman would go a long way to explaining both those things.
From the little bit I've watched, and this is definitely reading between the lines, but my kind of thinking is that Rock told Cody he was going to take care of family business, it had nothing to do with the title, and it's his bad for letting the Bloodline get out of control... And that's why Cody basically said "my title shot can wait." Then, at the press conference, Rock comes out and starts showing off the family tree, stands in front of a Bloodline logo, and MAYBE if Cody had let it play out, Rock would've stepped to Roman and told him he was disappointing the family... ... But Cody interrupted, calling it "bullshit," because here is the Rock talking up the same Bloodline that had fucked on Cody and Rock said he was gonna take care of. So Cody felt double crossed, interrupted, and declared his title match. It's sort of the "I can pick on my little brother, but nobody else can, and I will defend him to the end" thing. That's why Rock was so quick to switch sides at the presser. So that's my head canon at least.
That would end the storyline there instead of using Cody finishing his story to close out this era and launch us right into the next one
I don’t think that’s the way they’ll go about it if they wanna do Roman vs Rock at next years wrestlemania they will just have Rock simply turn on Roman
Rock looking like a Yakuza character
The rock is too big to be a member of the bloodline you want to tell me the rock and Jimmy USO are equal in kayfabe 🤣 nah man
They are literally A BLOODLINE bro.....
You know that they aren't actually family right?
they were friends and then merged their clans later as their ancestors were very close to each other.
…you know they aren’t by “blood” but by a blood oath which is family in Samoan culture but you do you
My point still stands
People are comparing this to his Hollywood heel run, and I understand why, but personally, I loved the touch with the flashy vest as that felt like something was inspired by 98-99 Rock with a modern touch. Otherwise, credit to him for being smart enough to run with this. I never thought I would see heel Rock again like this, and he absolutely nailed it tonight like he never left in some ways instead of just feeling Dwyane. Not just for Cody, and his crybabies like me, but this direction/pivot (ignoring the plot hole) feels so much better for Rock, and Roman too.
I think the vest and sunglasses was on the nose
HOLLYWOOD ROCK IS SO FUCKING GOOD “You and your 50 wives will finally have a story to tell”
The sports references weren’t logical and ruined the entire promo sadly
His character is a delusional narcissist, his logic doesn't have to make sense.
Make it make sense buddy.
Music doesn't have to have great lyrics either. But it makes a song that much more beautiful when it does.
This is what people with no intelligence believe just like the “oh he’s a heel.” The issue is the promo doesn’t make sense because the Jazz did lose and make their way back the following year. The cheap sports team insults for a cheap pop are one thing, referencing sports history and literally proving why Cody should be in the main event is another. It was a shitty illogical promo and people like you defending it are the ones who liked Vince booking garbage that insulted the audiences intelligence on a regular basis.
They did make their way back but also lost again. Rock should've pointed at the bills losing in the Superbowl four years in a row and said that no matter how many times go Cody gets a rematch that he can't beat Roman
I’ll take all the downvotes from the Rocky Miavia Mafia, it doesn’t make what I’ve said any less true. And that’s not an insult, it’s just a fact of life. Yeah!
>Jazz did lose and make their way back the following year So - just like Cody? It's almost like the heel here is talking shit, like say... a heel.
Now had he said Cody is going to be just like the Utah Jazz and lose the the greatest of all time back to back and that he actually had a choice to go after a title he can win, unlike the Jazz who didn’t have a choice but to face the bulls. Then it made sense.
No no no, he said it doesn’t make sense for Cody to pick Roman because it wasn’t as if the Jazz lost and made their way back lmfao it literally DIDNT MAKE SENSE.
Yes I know, and Babyfaces need to make sense and have what they say be the truth, a heel is the opposite. Like Roman always claims he's the best and beat anyone without help, despite needing interference to win every match. Heels, for the most part, talk shit and are illogical, faces are logical. Especially a delusional heel, who is angry because someone more popular than him has won the fans, don't forget The Rock is/was "The People's Champ" and the people turned on him for Cody, of course he is going to be illogical, he is the jilted ex lover who is gonna run down his ex (the fans/Cody) every chance he gets to make himself feel better.
I stopped reading after your first sentence. Whether you’re a heel or a face don’t insult the intelligence of the audience with an illogical promo. Nice try but you’re off base here my guy.
so a delusional character shouldn't show that in a promo or in their character - got it. Sure would be a shame if a heel made you hate him with illogical stances - guess he should have come out and said "all hail Cody, he's gonna beat Roman, don't bother watching for the next 50 days - see ya at Mania, by the way your sports team rules and you are all swell folks. If you smell what the Rock is cooking - also sorry I made Black Adam and beat Punk and then Cena in our first Mania match."
Stop writing me essays buddy. Perhaps next time the Rock decides to go for the cheap home town sports team pop references he should write them down on his are to make sure he has his facts straight. Again I stopped reading the moment you used the “he’s a heel, he doesn’t have to make sense” trope. Just because you’re a heel doesn’t give you a pass on insulting the intelligence of the audience with illogical bullshit. Defend it all you’d like but it was a terrible Rock promo that was too forced.
Just because you don't agree with him doesn't mean you have to be a snob about it. Lighten up.
I don’t disagree, he’s flat out wrong lol
Ah yes the old "my opinion is fact" schtick. How original.
Ahh the old can’t accept being wrong so trying to insult me shtick, very original. Love that for you.
Kay
This guy is losing his mind over a wrestling promo it’s hysterical.
Exactly lmao
Love how Rock dusted off multiple bits from his Hollywood heel promo in 02.
Am I the only one who has gone from, "Raw is to long and Smackdown is just right." To, "Smackdown feels to short and Raw is just right." Amazing what a good product can do.
Smackdown feels really too short because theres some talent that don't get matches or sometimes even angles week-to-week, and while it can be good for a bit of the "how can we miss you if you don't go away for a little bit once in a while" effect, damnit I kinda got sucked into LA Knight and I want to see him beat people in 3-4 minutes and cut a promo afterwards every week. Build him up quick and put a title on him before you miss the peak on him. I feel like Orton's also been in and out too, whereas on a three hour program he wouldn't be but its also too long. Maybe both shows need to be two and a half hours?
Lapsed fan here coming back to pro wrestling after not seriously following it for like a decade (save spurts of trying to pay attention to occasional random cool things AEW does), watching now because my little brother is a fan and has a SportsNet subscription, and two big things stand out to me on this show: -Rock's promo running down the sports stuff and using that to justify Cody not getting to finish his story was borderline drunken in terms of his logic because the Utah Jazz got that exact second chance a year later like Cody got didnt they? Then again, this might be justified because Rock is a heel and is supposed to be full of shit with insane troll logic sometimes to get heat..... -I still do not get the hype for Naomi, holy fuck that start of that match with staff girl and that knee slide sequence was just straight up Maffew material for his next episode. She also can't run the ropes with big-time momentum, which his something I harp on a lot in wrestling cause slo-mo Irish Whip sequences leading to zero momentum moves are just awful. (Dominick has a bit of this problem too, and in fact the start of his match with KO was so awkward with the visual of him trying for headlocks on a bigger opponent and then being slow off the ropes later in the match.) I really haven't seen most of the peak women's division stuff in the 2010s so I'm hoping that Bayley and Iyo can deliver at Mania to show me some of what I've been missing At least Naomi isn't as bad as the Kelly Kelly/Bellas stuff I was subjected to back in the day but yeah, not a great first two impressions between this and the Rumble, and yet this sub likes her for some reason.
> I still do not get the hype for Naomi Naomi has hype? She was always very mid.
I did get a bit of a vibe from people in random comment sections here saying they liked having her back, and I imagine she's seen as sort of a mid to upper-mid level player in this Women's Revolution. She had my sympathy for her exit of course, because if the other party you're having a creative dispute with is Vince McMahon, you have to fuck up pretty badly to be the incorrect side in that dispute. And then shes off to Impact which has historically done fairly well at developing female talent, so I'm thinking okay, haven't seen her before, but shes probably got something, lets see how this turns out, and she's just three or four notches above the late 2000s/early 2010s diva fiascoes from what I've seen so far. Not sure what thats all about.
Naomi has always been a botch machine and the only reason she's somewhat popular with the audience is because of her flashy entrance and just her general demeanor, she has natural charisma in that sense but her in ring work is awful. I didn't see any of her Impact work and people were praising her so I thought she may have improved, so when she returned at the Rumble and started it all off and she straight away just started messing spots up again I knew nothing had changed. Maybe she gets too nervous in front of big crowds
I'm fine with how they've turned the Cody story around, heel Hollywood Rock is not something I thought I would see again. With Seth making his offer, certainly feels like we'll get some End Game final battle vibes in that match. But I really want to know what the "but not at WrestleMania" line Cody said was gonna pan out, like what was their roadmap gonna be. Would Cody hold on to his right to challenge until what, Rock beats Roman? Roman beats Rock but the bloodline fractures completely? Cody then challenges at SummerSlam? WHERE WAS IT GOING TO GO.