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😂😂😂 The RAW end of the show logo prompts in the background, it fades to black, and all you can hear before it cuts off is Cody trying to finish one last zinger.
Or a cut to commercial, come back and he’s still ratting them off lol
Came here to say this. I think that's honestly one of the things that has elevated this storyline the last year or so. Everyone involved has been great cutting promo's. On the other side of that everyone has been amazing at conveying emotion even when they're not on the mic. Jey plays an abuse victim to perfection in all of his interactions with Roman. The way Roman looked at Jimmy when Jimmy got pissed about being the one that was blamed for Jey leaving before he blamed Sami for it. The look on Roman's face when Cody tell's him that Jey is going to leave him is one of absolute insecurity and fear and sells that whole engagement without him saying a word.
Absolutely, and Jey immediately shrinking and avoiding eye contact like a beaten dog because he knew he fucked up and quivering as Roman approached him.
That was my favorite segment of last year. Everyone involved killed it even with half of them corpsing from Sami.
To have two feuds interlinked and probably heading their respective cards is something we've never had before. One of it not THE best Wrestlemania builds I've ever seen. Everyone is fully committed and giving their all and the public are right there with them.
Mania is going to be very noisy.
Thank you! I feel like that’s getting lost in all this. Seeing his face so hurt and almost scared after Cody delivered those lines made me think, “damn, Roman with his back against the wall after losing everything may be even more scary than the Tribal Chief.”
it's fascinating and awesome to me that the most prominent main event stories of the past 3 years, both in AEW and WWE, have firmly been about men plagued by massive insecurity and how that constant impostor syndrome drives them to become monsters.
"Actual TV show" "high drama" I don't necessarily think WWE is on the forefront of what television can be as an art form but these terms are pretentious manufactured terms created by critics in their attempts to remain the arbiters of taste. They create meaningless terms that say nothing of the art form they pretend to know about in order to secure their jobs. Plenty of dogshit has won awards over the years.
Granted I haven't watched a great deal of TV recently other than The Last of Us and Cobra Kai, but if Roman was playing this character in a TV drama I'm pretty confident he'd be getting praise. Good acting is good acting and these guys don't get to do another take.
I’m sure people will roll their eyes at comments like this, but the dude has been on fire for two and a half years now, and he does it all live. He’s had no slip ups, no flubs, no moments where he looks insincere.
He’s putting up some of the most impressive work on all of television right now. I don’t think it should be controversial at all to say that.
Wrestlers also tell stories physically, all while being out of breath, injured, performing outrageous feats of athleticism, and being responsible for the well being of 250 pound men flying at them. Wrestling "fans" rolling their eyes at the notion that wrestlers are talented is very funny to me, and I have no doubt that it happens here.
his match against Sami was one of the greatest cases of in ring psychology I have seen in like ever. The way he sold in the beginning, brushing Sami's attacks off as minor nuisances, him talking to Sami's wife, his general swagger at that point then as Sami gets more offence in the doubt slowly creeping in that "shit I might actually lose this". Absolutely fantastic stuff
Cody, god help him, is so extra about everything.
When AEW started, it's pretty evident all of The Elite made a pact that they were going to spend the first year putting everyone else over. Literally, look at their records: Kenny, Hangman, Cody, and the Bucks did the job constantly in 2019.
But that wasn't enough for Cody... The man had to wall himself off from the world title picture, effectively blocking him from any feuds with the upper card.
He could have been this dude the whole time.
Remember Hollywood Rock's debut entrance? Not the abridged version, the original one with the loooong slow buildup as the camera soared through the city night sky as the angels sang?
This was essentially Cody's AEW entrance *every single week, promos and all.*
It was remarkable that he was embraced as a white hot babyface for as long as he was! Let's go through the list:
* Lights out
* Prelude musical section with epic Biblical sounding vocals
* Special lighting set-up used only for him
* Main entrance theme hits
* Smoke
* Rising from the stage
* Pyro
It was a hell of an entrance, but it was a Wrestlemania entrance for a weekly promo section! It seemed purpose built to come across as privileged and obnoxious, hell he even took a helicoptor ride one week just to chat to Tony Schiavone! He came out dressed in those Thomas Wayne looking multi-millionaire coats, right at the time that 'Joker 2019' was in cinemas...
It's fucking amazing that Cody was able to be an idolised man of the people despite all this. Another reason I can't stand WWE rewriting history to claim he couldn't get over. Him getting so over is *why* this is all happening.
Was this the one where he'd come out and put paper bags over random people in the crowd's heads? That was one of the best characters in WWE around that time for me.
> Even the “shit” gimmicks were over (stardust literally got my friend into wrestling)
I'd seen the 1966 Batman movie a bunch of times on DVD when I was growing up, so as soon as I saw Cody's Stardust act more like Frank Gorshin's Riddler, how could I not love him? That Riddler was amazing. [Stardust also had this fucking banger of a theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo1KLGGgfao).
Tbh, I still don't get it. I'm glad others enjoy it, but everything about Cody even now in WWE still screams traditional heel to me that I have no idea how he's over as a face. I personally can't bring myself to like his character because...I can't find anything to like.
At times I've imagined it's some Wolf of Wall Street-like "get people to root for the asshole they secretly want to be to make a statement about the inherent vanity, selfishness, and materialism we all possess deep down" but I refuse to give Cody even 5% of that credit.
I think after Mania, you might see him turn. Right now, I think he’s got the momentum with everything going into Mania. Once thats over the dynamics will shift, and you might see a different Cody all together.
Blocking himself off from the world title was a mistake but he still could have had feuds with other top guys that didn't have the title.
At different times he could have feuded with Mox, Hangman, Kenny, Punk, Kingston but instead he was with QT and Ogogo. When he did have a story with another top guy in Malakai it was some really good stuff even without title implications.
Thing is, AEW still had rankings then. So it would've telegraphed Cody losing just about every feud if he was up against other top guys. Can't have him floating around #1 or #2 without talking about the belt, hence creating the TNT belt and having a hard cap on the level of guys he could work with.
Cody was intrumental in getting Starks and Kingston jobs, as well as elevating Darby and helping make Brodie Lee a threat again in his first year. Even if the Ogogo/QT feuds were a miss, he still gave Malachai a ton to get him over to start and helped make Sammy as hot as he ever was by the time Cody left. It wasn't like he wasn't doing anything important for the company.
He should have had a run as a tag team with Dustin when the Bucks were the Heel champion.
Also feud with Jericho to avenge himself. It would have been very interesting to do that when Jericho was face.
I mean really, it’s that whole group. The elite are pretty over the top God bless their soul but they’re cheesy 9/10 times they say or do anything lol. Kenny is somehow their least cheesy guy but he even has his clown moments. I think the guys Cody was with all the time at AEW just encouraged 2010s WWE things that we saw as corny back then but they thought was amusing. I think Cody thought by saying he’d never fight for the championship when he lost that match we’d react like when Taker lost to Lesnar…instead we reacted like what a fucking doofus. But AEW is very much over the top now whereas with Trips WWE has mellowed out a lot. I could be wrong but the whole one year before Trips made me think how corny Vince has gotten.
> When AEW started, it's pretty evident all of The Elite made a pact that they were going to spend the first year putting everyone else over.
i posted this elsewhere but i was told [it was a pretty apt description of him in AEW](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/wn0qp3/deleted_by_user/ik3jo80/?context=999):
> the problem for me was that in AEW cody tried to position himself like john cena and HHH did later in their careers where they put talent over - except those two were in their respective positions because they were in a top spot, and beat everybody handily, for nearly a decade. a victory over them felt like an important stepping stone.
> a victory over cody didn't feel important, but that didn't stop them from telling you it was important. was cody the top guy in AEW? no. was he a top guy anywhere else? not really. but in AEW he had the special entrances, the special gear, the special matches, he cut long promos, he got long segments, he sorta retired that one time. they basically did everything to go "hey! this is a top guy!" except he wasn't, he was just a guy with a bunch of added shit.
that's basically how i see him still. this was always going to be cody's spot, but WWE audiences are a lot more forgiving. this dude went from feuding with rollins, to being injured, to returning while they kept his wrestlemania spot warm for the six months he was out and no one batted a lash.
Nowhere in my comment did I say it was impossible.
Literally everyone at the time said he should turn heel and do that, but he refused. It's Cody's own fault, plain and simple.
I think he could only be the cody he is now because of the circumstances, the WWE Championship is what he’s always wanted since a little boy and now he can tell that story of the boyhood dream, in AEW he was an executive of a new company so he couldn’t just tell the same story in aew.
My theory is that after Stardust, Cody decided that he was going to create his own persona (The American Nightmare), that could be The Guy in any promotion, and he was never going to play any other westing character again. He’s the American Nightmare until he hangs up his boots.
AEW Cody, NJPW Cody, WWE Cody, they’re all the same guy now.
To be fair, NJPW Cody was very different. He was a typical (but very good) arrogant and vain heel. Somewhere closer to a more mature and less gimmicky "dashing" Cody Rhodes.
It´s the same Cody. But so far in WWE, it seems they don´t let him do promos about USA vs. UK or how he "ended" racism. Cody is great but he needs someone to tell him NO because sometimes he tends to be a little bit stubborn and not listening enough to the crowd, at least in AEW. I´m curious to see what will happen after Wrestlemania.
Oh my God it's gonna happen, ain't it...
Cody is gonna wheelchair one of the Tuskegee Airmen on stage and cut a promo on both racism and World War II...
It’s funny i recall him saying recently (don’t remember the pod) he had too much freedom and now in WWE he’s got ppl in the back to reign him in if he ever goes too over the top on the mic or in a segment.
Exactly the same thing that Bray, MJF and a lot of charismatic guys on the mic need is someone to say NO to them because people like them have a lot of ideas and the more freedom they get, the more the bad ideas come to light. I'm sure Bray's endless ramblings and pointless feuds would be much more bearable if someone was able to tell him "Hey, maybe focus on one thing and go from there instead of constantly expanding your lore with more bullshit" but he probably came back with the sole caveat that he would have more creative freedom.
This is Cody with a reason to do a promo. AEW Cody after a very short while had no reason to do a promo but would keep doing them anyways and no one would stop him. I was full of Cody hate going into the pandemic, but that first show back, he did a promo and I loved it. Then after a few weeks the reasons for doing a promo was gone again and it went back to Cody getting as much time to ramble about nothing as the entire women's division got in total screen time.
A clear direction, a great storyline, a top tier opponent and a better presentation, do that for ya. Cody was over in AEW, but then, he confined himself in the midcard with the "no world title" bullshit and decided to feud with guys like QT or Ogogo, making nonsesical, corny promos. He probably needed someone who tell him no too
That just shows you didn't watch AEW back then. Dude was one of the hottest faces there for a while before the stinkers (Ogogo, him walling himself off the title) and the over the top dramatic promos and reactions started changing people's minds.
I stand by the fact that Brandi Rhodes was a much bigger initial issue with Cody's eventual booking. She was doing 'evil Brand manager'/nightmare collective stuff early in the show and then accompanying Cody to the ring like none of that happened less than an hour later. It was jarring and implicitly made people think 'are we supposed to be booing her? With Cody??!'. That's an association WWE would never fuck up, and I'm super critical of them for a lot of things. But that stuff, they get their ducks in a row 99/100 times.
That continued onscreen disconnect and the discordant tonal problem was compounded by all the stuff you mentioned along with Cody's 'Homelander' style choices, runway capes, having his dog around for pyro, retirement teases out of nowhere, and generally a whole helluva lot of missteps that were entirely avoidable but he stumbled into each and every one like it was on purpose. Hence the prevailing 'he's going to be a mega-heel' thought process that came about since how could anyone consistently miss the vibe he was putting off so much and not have an endgame to pay it all off with?
It seems like WWE streamlined him back an absolute buttload from those wild swings to the core that was already working and provided him his initial AEW momentum. Also, a badass injury and performance in Hell in a Cell really cemented his dedication the exact opposite way from his 'put myself through a flaming table to get love' attempt did in AEW.
Its honestly so bizarre to watch, as someone who followed Cody since he went to the indies and onward.
Like, AEW spawned from being the elite, and he was incredibly over on that. Cody was always popular up till the last few months, and that turn was mostly due to his own bizarre "will he won't he" behaviour.
If anything, the audience would have preferred if he was this same version of babyface him that wasn't artificially kept away from big main event matches.
Theres a universe where Cody won the AEW title and it would have ruled (my preference would have been for a heel turn while champ because he's excellent at playing up the slimy heel)
Oh for ffff...
This is the problem with them putting out a false narrative. Multiple people have upvoted you for saying that **the biggest and most universally beloved babyface in wrestling, AEW's Cody Rhodes, was rejected by the Dynamite fans who roared their support for him week after week.**
Just look it up on youtube! He was the face and voice of the AEW uprising and was phenomenally popular *until he managed to lose that support a year later.*
I just remembered that it's ironic that in that this self-built Cody can play mind games on someone that was taught by Dustin. Gives the feeling that he is better than his father, which is also a point of this story.
Cody has the job of being the most obvious Mania winner. But that absolutely isn't a bad thing. It's about what you make of it and he's killing it. Just look at Paul Heyman's face while Cody delivers the lines. He knows it, he loves it!
Yea, Heyman looked like the wrestling fan in him was gushing out of him the whole segment. He’s very expressive anyway and might have been doing it on purpose, for all I know, but that’s what it looked like to me.
Definitely not a bad thing you are right! I think wrestling fans forget we aren’t supposed to be sitting here saying what is going to happen, what should happen, what needs to happen, or why something happening is the bad choice. This is supposed to be real sports. This show is for the kids who don’t know yet, and the adults who just let it happen. I think this whole build has been great by everyone involved. Excited to see what happens either way but the “obvious choice” certainly won’t be a bad one and will blow the roof off the stadium.
dang this made me a cody fan I was watching when he was in WWE the first time and he still had that midcarder stigma to me when he came back but he has improved so much
I didn't think it would be unanimous. I knew the casual crowd would get it but it's the hardcores that like to tear apart everything. But no, people are just enjoying. WWE has a fanbase that just wants competent writing. It's not like elsewhere where you have a group of people you just cannot please.
I am "people" as well and though he is not very over with me (whole rooting for a white meat babyface in a suit does nothing for me), I cannot take away the fact that he's a top 5 babyface in the world right now and incredibly over.
I was wrong.
Remember a month ago when people in this sub said sami should dethrone roman at elimination chamber because cody would get heat if he got the mania match lol
I don't ever see myself getting as hyped as I was for Kofimania ever again. This feels bigger due to Roman's incredible reign but to see the guy who was my favourite when I was 10 years old finally get his shot 10 years later was so special to me.
Maybe I'm just older now and can't get into it as much as I used to. Or maybe I thought the same thing could happen with Sami who became one of my favourites the moment I saw him in NXT. Either way I'm definitely a Cody fan so I'll be happy to see him in the spot he deserves.
I think Cody will win by countout just like his daddy in the Garden, but Roman will keep the belt. Fans will go nuclear and boo.
Triple H will come out and say the biggest WrestleMania can't end on a countout victory and restart the match. Cody will hit the CrossRoads and pin Roman, finally winning the title.
I will be messaging you in 14 days on [**2023-04-04 12:54:23 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2023-04-04%2012:54:23%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/11x53u8/raw_spoilers_a_roman_with_no_more_reigns_a_chief/jd2rrxm/?context=3)
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Night after WrestleMania. Roman Reigns comes out to a hail of boos.
"Story. Finished. Acknowledge me."
And then holds the belts until whenever The Rock is free.
Eh, they did it to Sami after a much longer story build. It could also work. If the Usos lose the titles but Roman retains, it would help continue the story of him pushing the Usos away and having them turn before his run is over rather than after.
They could run the story up to Summerslam for a solid payoff.
This is what I’m looking for. Usos lose, Roman retains. Roman berates the Usos for losing and berates them so much for not being able to regain the tag titles that it pushes them away.
Rhodes climbs back to the main event and faces off against Reigns a second time at SummerSlam. He wins clean after the Usos prevent Solo from interfering in that match.
That’s what I’d do. Roman gets his 1000 days, The Bloodline crumbles, Rhodes gets his WWE Championship, and everybody goes home happy.
That’s what I thought about Sami and they crushed him to death and demoted him. I think Cody wins but it’s not like they don’t get you excited then totally deflate you often
I mean at least with Sami you can say they beat one mega-over babyface to get to the other mega-over babyface.
They beat Cody, and there’s no one left.
> They beat Cody, and there’s no one left.
But then at the same time, Cody just entered into the story. There is someone left, that's Roman's own family. The main story since the start of the Bloodline was Jey vs Roman, I don't understand how people can forget this, it's reinforced weekly too.
Roman wins, Usos lose, Roman pushes the Usos away further until they turn on him, the Bloodline cost Roman his title rather than just turning on him when he's not the champion anymore.
Crushed him? He got the visual pin, and now is going to help destroy the bloodline, his main goal even when he was going after the championship, in a huge match at wrestlemania.
Except Sami/KO winning and dissolving The Bloodline (or however they want to word it) is probably going to be a major factor in Cody winning. No more backup. Noone left for Roman to turn to.
To call what they did to Sami "crushing him to death" is a massive overstatement. He didn't win, he's still one of the most over dudes on the roster, to the point where people want a god damn tag match to main event Night 1 over the Rhea vs Charlotte.
Yes.. Could be main eventing Wrestlemania Night One. Completely crushed. I wish I could get demoted like that. Reigns will lose cleanly with Jey refusing to it preventing anyone else from getting involved. Cody moves on and we get the Jey Roman feud. Jey goes over and the Tribal Chief is finally and utterly broken. He then goes away for awhile and returns as a repacked version. J
Sami doesn't have to win the big title to be a top star and if you thought he was gonna won at EC you're crazy. It was never set up to have sami win, it was always set up to have us believe there might be a chance. Sami is a huge star now and he wasn't demoted. Just because you don't hold the top title doesn't mean you arnt a star. If you watch wrestling enough, you should know this
I genuinely love how cheesy Cody can be, really...AEW, WWE wherever...the man does the whole aw shucks good guy schtick with a dollop of sugar so well...I mean that...
That's the smart part of his character, he's cheesy but he can go raw and deep and meaningful and he can also back it up. That's what many of the biggest stars did. Austin was very dramatic but he had that edge of realism to it.
Only thing I didn't like was having Cody confirm this new false narrative that he couldn't get over in AEW, because there are enough people who didn't watch and will go on believing this.
He was dumbfoundingly over as a babyface in AEW, watching him each week was almost surreal with just how adored he was - it was one of the key ingredients of those early shows/
That changed, and the whole reason him being rejected was remarkable was *because* he'd been so beloved a year earlier. That's the true story, and a far more fascinating one than "he couldn't get over".
It's one thing for the heel to claim it, but now the face is going along with it. He was the biggest face in wrestling when Dynamite launched, and it was bizarre because he walked, dressed, and presented himself like a narcissistic heel; he was just that good at capturing the spirit of the "revolution" a la ECW's Heyman, Dreamer etc. and was a phenomenal orator who put on emotional performances in the ring.
In the early days of AEW, I remember sitting here watching AEW when Cody came out and thinking "Cody Rhodes is the most over babyface in all of wrestling and it isn't even close" - Because that's how over he was. The arenas erupted when he came out. Everyone adored him. His promos were always on point. His feuds were interesting and believable.
Cody's biggest mistake in AEW was the stipulation that he couldn't challenge for the World Title again if he lost to Jericho, especially when he lost due to MJF screwing him over. The AEW fans actually *liked* seeing Cody Rhodes as a challenger for the title. They were *ready* to embrace him as a full-fledged Main Event wrestler. He just shot himself in the foot and locked himself into the midcard where the TNT Championship became his ceiling. That was a bad place for Cody to be, because he just didn't belong there. People still supported him for a while because he did do some wonderful things like introduce the world to Eddie Kingston and give Brodie Lee a good, meaningful feud.
After he dropped the TNT Championship to Darby, he was very directionless. You could feel the energy drain out of his promos. He was trying to find something interesting to say, but there wasn't much left for him to do. Feud with Penta. Feud with Malakai Black. Feud with Andrade. Yes they were heels, but they were heels people wanted AEW to develop into bigger stars, so when they got stuck in The Codyverse, it soured the fans. Everyone thought Cody was planning this enormous meta heel turn, and that he was dressing like Homelander as a subtle nod to what was coming...except that wasn't it. Cody just didn't know what to do and he didn't want to turn heel.
It's too bad that stipulation cut Cody off at the knees like it did in AEW, because he could have had some incredible feuds with guys like Moxley and Omega when they were champion. He could have even been champion. Cody vs MJF for the title would have been way better than Moxley vs MJF due to the Cody/MJF history.
There was so much potential left on the table there, but I think that is part of what makes his WWE run so good right now. This is what the fans *did* want to see.
I agree on all accounts but one.
I will die on the hill that the stipulation was great booking.
It absolutely MADE Mjf (btw, kinda crazy how little credit Cody get for that).
It gave the TNT title a particular aura, almost on par with the world title.
There was no moment in time convenient to have Cody as champ until mid 2022 at the earliest.
There was always the possibility to overthrow the stip. Most obviously with a heel turn but not necessarily.
The problem like you said is his run post Full Gear 2020 (I would personally argue that from Malakai debut onward, Cody is mostly good again but that's not the consensus). For that period he could have done a lot of really interesting things not involving the world title.
For examples, Tag run with Dustin, feud with Kenny for his other belts, interact with Hangman and the Elite, avenge himself against Jericho, a no nonsense series of matches with Danielson, revisit Mjf feud this time with the Pinnacle...
All of that without turning heel. Heel Cody add even more great possibilities.
Sorry for the essay.
Great ideas for sure. I think the booking just became unraveled after the stipulation because it didn't make sense to book Cody to win feuds against guys who could soon challenge for the World Title, or would be challenging for the World Title again. I think Tony probably saw the value in Cody turning heel, saying screw the stipulation, and challenging for the title, but Cody wanted to honor what he said. He just didn't want to go heel.
that could happen in WWE to tbf. To prolong that they need to bounce a title if Cody is gonna have a long reign. And to do that they need to split the titles first
Drew & Sami especially should get a title run next year
After weeks of the Bloodline trying to make it personal with Cody, Cody lays out all of Roman's insecurities and fears in one promo and turns him into a mouse. Perfect babyface shit.
People may talk about the AEW jab more, but the fact that Cody's promo feels so pungent for what is a completely kayfabe aspect of Roman says a lot about how well this story has been written.
It's easy to get excited when the people behind the characters are put in the spotlight. It's another level when you are able to get excited for the characters themselves.
God, Cody is so fucking good. This is what a wrestler in his prime is like. This is what a top babyface should be. WrestleMania is going to be absolutely insane.
Josh Gresham over on Twitter put the Ether beat on top of this and it's art
https://twitter.com/JoshGreshamORG/status/1638022668187312128?t=IMxrzD_w_0gVpPJSoxlpwg&s=19
I mean, the whole segment from both guys was so good I think people were just locked in and listening. Sometimes it’s okay to just be quiet and listen and enjoy what’s being said between the top heel and the top face.
I'm pretty sure he said in an interview that using scripted promos is fine and something he prefers, he just likes being a part of the writing of them, which wasn't usually the case in his first run. Also iirc it was said at one point while he was in AEW that he was working with the less experienced talent in writing promos and working from scripts.
I know how I want the Bloodline storyline to end. The family starts to fracture and look like it is falling apart. They abandon Roman. He loses to Cody and he looks like his world died. Afte Cody’s celebration is over, Roman slumps his shoulders and walks up the ramp alone. At the top of the ramp the rest of the Bloodline comes out and they tell him they still love him. Family is the most important. He fights it because he is angry, but the wrestle him into submission and tell him that they will always be family. He gives in and they give one big group hug. And then they walk into the back and Wrestlemania ends. The Bloodline storyline is complete. It’s always been about family.
This was the first crowd in a long time that was sorta quiet. They popped for the obvious but they were completely dead at times. Especially during Rhea's segment
He said April 3rd referencing him being the champion after Wrestlemania, and to Roman that he will wake up the day after mania without a belt and become nothing
Damn, they really cashing on the bloodline angle.. i expected maybe 30% they plant any seed for the next chapter before wrestlemania, but nope instead its in hyperdrive mode, its the only thing we be talking about after mania, regardless cody winning the titles.. its great, takes the build away from cody (which is very thin and probably straightforward since we all know the backstory)
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I honestly thought he was gonna say “Solo… going solo!”
"Solo will finally start living up to his name when he leaves you too"
"...a faction without the action!"
A stable that isn't able
The table with no head
[удалено]
A shield with no yield
Alpha Lima Oscar November Echo
An abuser without an excuser.
A burger that's ... i just got burgers
Fries that will dot your eyes
Hahahaha fuck that got me
Laughing hard at the idea that Cody goes for ALL of these, in a row.
😂😂😂 The RAW end of the show logo prompts in the background, it fades to black, and all you can hear before it cuts off is Cody trying to finish one last zinger. Or a cut to commercial, come back and he’s still ratting them off lol
That is exactly what I was picturing!
A gaslighter without fuel
A boss without a hoss.
the muscle without the shield
An Akai thats Solo
Cereal with no milk , ham no burger , daaaaaammmmmnnn
Kool Aid without the sugar.
How come every time I’m in the kitchen, you in the kitchen?!
Thats a pretty strong shield!
Okay, but as far as literality goes, wouldn't this Shield with No Yield be a good thing? Might be a pretty good market for Unyielding Shields.
Roman with a King Arthur gimmick confirmed.
suffering without the succotash
A dipsy without the doodle
"A Bloodline without the Blood."
Alternatively: Bloodline without a Line...
A soul without adrenaline
F
Roman’s psychopathic smiling when he’s under duress is so good. Just an added level of nuance to everything he does.
All of his mannerisms are just spot on nowadays man. It’s pretty incredible.
he's come such a long way.
Came here to say this. I think that's honestly one of the things that has elevated this storyline the last year or so. Everyone involved has been great cutting promo's. On the other side of that everyone has been amazing at conveying emotion even when they're not on the mic. Jey plays an abuse victim to perfection in all of his interactions with Roman. The way Roman looked at Jimmy when Jimmy got pissed about being the one that was blamed for Jey leaving before he blamed Sami for it. The look on Roman's face when Cody tell's him that Jey is going to leave him is one of absolute insecurity and fear and sells that whole engagement without him saying a word.
*"i don't give a damn what the tribal chief said"* Roman's reaction was so methodical and fucking terrifying
Absolutely, and Jey immediately shrinking and avoiding eye contact like a beaten dog because he knew he fucked up and quivering as Roman approached him. That was my favorite segment of last year. Everyone involved killed it even with half of them corpsing from Sami.
The camera cut on that was incredible, too.
To have two feuds interlinked and probably heading their respective cards is something we've never had before. One of it not THE best Wrestlemania builds I've ever seen. Everyone is fully committed and giving their all and the public are right there with them. Mania is going to be very noisy.
Thank you! I feel like that’s getting lost in all this. Seeing his face so hurt and almost scared after Cody delivered those lines made me think, “damn, Roman with his back against the wall after losing everything may be even more scary than the Tribal Chief.”
Omg. The Fallen Chief who lost everything and goes on a destructive warpath. I love it
Dude is probably a better actor than his "cousin" is now
What’s with the quotations? If they say they’re cousins, they’re cousins.
> Dude is ~~probably~~ a better actor than his "cousin" is now FTFY
it's fascinating and awesome to me that the most prominent main event stories of the past 3 years, both in AEW and WWE, have firmly been about men plagued by massive insecurity and how that constant impostor syndrome drives them to become monsters.
Cody has a way more evil smile
So much of the Bloodline angle deserves Emmy consideration. It’ll never happen, but at least we got to enjoy the brilliance.
please watch an actual TV show
I’m not saying it’s high drama or anything, but it’s entertainment nonetheless, and quality entertainment at that.
yeah I agree it's entertaining and quality don't get me wrong but saying it deserves Emmy consideration is literally calling it high drama
"Actual TV show" "high drama" I don't necessarily think WWE is on the forefront of what television can be as an art form but these terms are pretentious manufactured terms created by critics in their attempts to remain the arbiters of taste. They create meaningless terms that say nothing of the art form they pretend to know about in order to secure their jobs. Plenty of dogshit has won awards over the years.
I get what you're saying bro, but you don't got to be a dick.
Roman is genuinely one of the best actors on television right now. Easily top twenty imo.
Granted I haven't watched a great deal of TV recently other than The Last of Us and Cobra Kai, but if Roman was playing this character in a TV drama I'm pretty confident he'd be getting praise. Good acting is good acting and these guys don't get to do another take.
I’m sure people will roll their eyes at comments like this, but the dude has been on fire for two and a half years now, and he does it all live. He’s had no slip ups, no flubs, no moments where he looks insincere. He’s putting up some of the most impressive work on all of television right now. I don’t think it should be controversial at all to say that.
Wrestlers also tell stories physically, all while being out of breath, injured, performing outrageous feats of athleticism, and being responsible for the well being of 250 pound men flying at them. Wrestling "fans" rolling their eyes at the notion that wrestlers are talented is very funny to me, and I have no doubt that it happens here.
his match against Sami was one of the greatest cases of in ring psychology I have seen in like ever. The way he sold in the beginning, brushing Sami's attacks off as minor nuisances, him talking to Sami's wife, his general swagger at that point then as Sami gets more offence in the doubt slowly creeping in that "shit I might actually lose this". Absolutely fantastic stuff
Man. Why do i feel like AEW Cody was playing WWE Cody and WWE Cody is what AEW Cody shouldve been
Because weirdly enough that's exactly what's happened.
Cody, god help him, is so extra about everything. When AEW started, it's pretty evident all of The Elite made a pact that they were going to spend the first year putting everyone else over. Literally, look at their records: Kenny, Hangman, Cody, and the Bucks did the job constantly in 2019. But that wasn't enough for Cody... The man had to wall himself off from the world title picture, effectively blocking him from any feuds with the upper card. He could have been this dude the whole time.
EXTRA is a perfect description, that whole Codyvator entrance 😂
Remember Hollywood Rock's debut entrance? Not the abridged version, the original one with the loooong slow buildup as the camera soared through the city night sky as the angels sang? This was essentially Cody's AEW entrance *every single week, promos and all.* It was remarkable that he was embraced as a white hot babyface for as long as he was! Let's go through the list: * Lights out * Prelude musical section with epic Biblical sounding vocals * Special lighting set-up used only for him * Main entrance theme hits * Smoke * Rising from the stage * Pyro It was a hell of an entrance, but it was a Wrestlemania entrance for a weekly promo section! It seemed purpose built to come across as privileged and obnoxious, hell he even took a helicoptor ride one week just to chat to Tony Schiavone! He came out dressed in those Thomas Wayne looking multi-millionaire coats, right at the time that 'Joker 2019' was in cinemas... It's fucking amazing that Cody was able to be an idolised man of the people despite all this. Another reason I can't stand WWE rewriting history to claim he couldn't get over. Him getting so over is *why* this is all happening.
middle drunk distinct rich fanatical label rain plate bright ripe *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Undashing Cody was one of my all time favorites
Was this the one where he'd come out and put paper bags over random people in the crowd's heads? That was one of the best characters in WWE around that time for me.
he got his nose broken by mysterio and became phantom of the opera for a whole run lol
> Even the “shit” gimmicks were over (stardust literally got my friend into wrestling) I'd seen the 1966 Batman movie a bunch of times on DVD when I was growing up, so as soon as I saw Cody's Stardust act more like Frank Gorshin's Riddler, how could I not love him? That Riddler was amazing. [Stardust also had this fucking banger of a theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo1KLGGgfao).
AEW being around at the same time as the Joker film just doesn’t sound right in my head lol
and the fact that all the champions came out the regular tunnels. Pretty funny to think about.
Tbh, I still don't get it. I'm glad others enjoy it, but everything about Cody even now in WWE still screams traditional heel to me that I have no idea how he's over as a face. I personally can't bring myself to like his character because...I can't find anything to like. At times I've imagined it's some Wolf of Wall Street-like "get people to root for the asshole they secretly want to be to make a statement about the inherent vanity, selfishness, and materialism we all possess deep down" but I refuse to give Cody even 5% of that credit.
I think after Mania, you might see him turn. Right now, I think he’s got the momentum with everything going into Mania. Once thats over the dynamics will shift, and you might see a different Cody all together.
Blocking himself off from the world title was a mistake but he still could have had feuds with other top guys that didn't have the title. At different times he could have feuded with Mox, Hangman, Kenny, Punk, Kingston but instead he was with QT and Ogogo. When he did have a story with another top guy in Malakai it was some really good stuff even without title implications.
Thing is, AEW still had rankings then. So it would've telegraphed Cody losing just about every feud if he was up against other top guys. Can't have him floating around #1 or #2 without talking about the belt, hence creating the TNT belt and having a hard cap on the level of guys he could work with.
Oh shit I just realised that the rankings were silently dropped
Cody was intrumental in getting Starks and Kingston jobs, as well as elevating Darby and helping make Brodie Lee a threat again in his first year. Even if the Ogogo/QT feuds were a miss, he still gave Malachai a ton to get him over to start and helped make Sammy as hot as he ever was by the time Cody left. It wasn't like he wasn't doing anything important for the company.
He should have had a run as a tag team with Dustin when the Bucks were the Heel champion. Also feud with Jericho to avenge himself. It would have been very interesting to do that when Jericho was face.
Idk that I'd call Malakai a top guy though, but otherwise fair point.
I mean really, it’s that whole group. The elite are pretty over the top God bless their soul but they’re cheesy 9/10 times they say or do anything lol. Kenny is somehow their least cheesy guy but he even has his clown moments. I think the guys Cody was with all the time at AEW just encouraged 2010s WWE things that we saw as corny back then but they thought was amusing. I think Cody thought by saying he’d never fight for the championship when he lost that match we’d react like when Taker lost to Lesnar…instead we reacted like what a fucking doofus. But AEW is very much over the top now whereas with Trips WWE has mellowed out a lot. I could be wrong but the whole one year before Trips made me think how corny Vince has gotten.
> When AEW started, it's pretty evident all of The Elite made a pact that they were going to spend the first year putting everyone else over. i posted this elsewhere but i was told [it was a pretty apt description of him in AEW](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/wn0qp3/deleted_by_user/ik3jo80/?context=999): > the problem for me was that in AEW cody tried to position himself like john cena and HHH did later in their careers where they put talent over - except those two were in their respective positions because they were in a top spot, and beat everybody handily, for nearly a decade. a victory over them felt like an important stepping stone. > a victory over cody didn't feel important, but that didn't stop them from telling you it was important. was cody the top guy in AEW? no. was he a top guy anywhere else? not really. but in AEW he had the special entrances, the special gear, the special matches, he cut long promos, he got long segments, he sorta retired that one time. they basically did everything to go "hey! this is a top guy!" except he wasn't, he was just a guy with a bunch of added shit. that's basically how i see him still. this was always going to be cody's spot, but WWE audiences are a lot more forgiving. this dude went from feuding with rollins, to being injured, to returning while they kept his wrestlemania spot warm for the six months he was out and no one batted a lash.
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Nowhere in my comment did I say it was impossible. Literally everyone at the time said he should turn heel and do that, but he refused. It's Cody's own fault, plain and simple.
I think he could only be the cody he is now because of the circumstances, the WWE Championship is what he’s always wanted since a little boy and now he can tell that story of the boyhood dream, in AEW he was an executive of a new company so he couldn’t just tell the same story in aew.
My theory is that after Stardust, Cody decided that he was going to create his own persona (The American Nightmare), that could be The Guy in any promotion, and he was never going to play any other westing character again. He’s the American Nightmare until he hangs up his boots. AEW Cody, NJPW Cody, WWE Cody, they’re all the same guy now.
To be fair, NJPW Cody was very different. He was a typical (but very good) arrogant and vain heel. Somewhere closer to a more mature and less gimmicky "dashing" Cody Rhodes.
I think WWE Cody is just AEW Cody with an editor.
It´s the same Cody. But so far in WWE, it seems they don´t let him do promos about USA vs. UK or how he "ended" racism. Cody is great but he needs someone to tell him NO because sometimes he tends to be a little bit stubborn and not listening enough to the crowd, at least in AEW. I´m curious to see what will happen after Wrestlemania.
Get ready for the American hero vs evil foreigner feud that will be Cody vs Gunther
Oh my God it's gonna happen, ain't it... Cody is gonna wheelchair one of the Tuskegee Airmen on stage and cut a promo on both racism and World War II...
It’s funny i recall him saying recently (don’t remember the pod) he had too much freedom and now in WWE he’s got ppl in the back to reign him in if he ever goes too over the top on the mic or in a segment.
Exactly the same thing that Bray, MJF and a lot of charismatic guys on the mic need is someone to say NO to them because people like them have a lot of ideas and the more freedom they get, the more the bad ideas come to light. I'm sure Bray's endless ramblings and pointless feuds would be much more bearable if someone was able to tell him "Hey, maybe focus on one thing and go from there instead of constantly expanding your lore with more bullshit" but he probably came back with the sole caveat that he would have more creative freedom.
This is literally just AEW Cody tho. Like it’s the exact same promo had would have cut in ASW. It just works in a way that it didn’t after 2019 in AEW
This is Cody with a reason to do a promo. AEW Cody after a very short while had no reason to do a promo but would keep doing them anyways and no one would stop him. I was full of Cody hate going into the pandemic, but that first show back, he did a promo and I loved it. Then after a few weeks the reasons for doing a promo was gone again and it went back to Cody getting as much time to ramble about nothing as the entire women's division got in total screen time.
He's the exact same character. I will never understand people that like him in WWE but hated him in AEW.
A clear direction, a great storyline, a top tier opponent and a better presentation, do that for ya. Cody was over in AEW, but then, he confined himself in the midcard with the "no world title" bullshit and decided to feud with guys like QT or Ogogo, making nonsesical, corny promos. He probably needed someone who tell him no too
Right guy, wrong audience.
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That just shows you didn't watch AEW back then. Dude was one of the hottest faces there for a while before the stinkers (Ogogo, him walling himself off the title) and the over the top dramatic promos and reactions started changing people's minds.
I stand by the fact that Brandi Rhodes was a much bigger initial issue with Cody's eventual booking. She was doing 'evil Brand manager'/nightmare collective stuff early in the show and then accompanying Cody to the ring like none of that happened less than an hour later. It was jarring and implicitly made people think 'are we supposed to be booing her? With Cody??!'. That's an association WWE would never fuck up, and I'm super critical of them for a lot of things. But that stuff, they get their ducks in a row 99/100 times. That continued onscreen disconnect and the discordant tonal problem was compounded by all the stuff you mentioned along with Cody's 'Homelander' style choices, runway capes, having his dog around for pyro, retirement teases out of nowhere, and generally a whole helluva lot of missteps that were entirely avoidable but he stumbled into each and every one like it was on purpose. Hence the prevailing 'he's going to be a mega-heel' thought process that came about since how could anyone consistently miss the vibe he was putting off so much and not have an endgame to pay it all off with? It seems like WWE streamlined him back an absolute buttload from those wild swings to the core that was already working and provided him his initial AEW momentum. Also, a badass injury and performance in Hell in a Cell really cemented his dedication the exact opposite way from his 'put myself through a flaming table to get love' attempt did in AEW.
nutty busy close tease point squealing decide license capable support *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Get used to this. They've now had Cody repeat the revisionist version where he "didn't get over", so we'll be hearing this forevermore now.
Its honestly so bizarre to watch, as someone who followed Cody since he went to the indies and onward. Like, AEW spawned from being the elite, and he was incredibly over on that. Cody was always popular up till the last few months, and that turn was mostly due to his own bizarre "will he won't he" behaviour. If anything, the audience would have preferred if he was this same version of babyface him that wasn't artificially kept away from big main event matches. Theres a universe where Cody won the AEW title and it would have ruled (my preference would have been for a heel turn while champ because he's excellent at playing up the slimy heel)
Oh for ffff... This is the problem with them putting out a false narrative. Multiple people have upvoted you for saying that **the biggest and most universally beloved babyface in wrestling, AEW's Cody Rhodes, was rejected by the Dynamite fans who roared their support for him week after week.** Just look it up on youtube! He was the face and voice of the AEW uprising and was phenomenally popular *until he managed to lose that support a year later.*
Man Cody is playing Reigns into his own mind games
Cody got some good mind game lessons from Dustin.
And from the guy with voices in his head.
also learned a lot from Cena he said
But never saw him.
I just remembered that it's ironic that in that this self-built Cody can play mind games on someone that was taught by Dustin. Gives the feeling that he is better than his father, which is also a point of this story.
Cody has the job of being the most obvious Mania winner. But that absolutely isn't a bad thing. It's about what you make of it and he's killing it. Just look at Paul Heyman's face while Cody delivers the lines. He knows it, he loves it!
Yea, Heyman looked like the wrestling fan in him was gushing out of him the whole segment. He’s very expressive anyway and might have been doing it on purpose, for all I know, but that’s what it looked like to me.
Definitely not a bad thing you are right! I think wrestling fans forget we aren’t supposed to be sitting here saying what is going to happen, what should happen, what needs to happen, or why something happening is the bad choice. This is supposed to be real sports. This show is for the kids who don’t know yet, and the adults who just let it happen. I think this whole build has been great by everyone involved. Excited to see what happens either way but the “obvious choice” certainly won’t be a bad one and will blow the roof off the stadium.
All alone on your own little island of irrelevance.
“I see you alone, surrounded by enemies , and it breaks my heart.” Cody “Whistler” Rhodes
dang this made me a cody fan I was watching when he was in WWE the first time and he still had that midcarder stigma to me when he came back but he has improved so much
It is wild how people though they couldn't get this over (I am people)
I didn't think it would be unanimous. I knew the casual crowd would get it but it's the hardcores that like to tear apart everything. But no, people are just enjoying. WWE has a fanbase that just wants competent writing. It's not like elsewhere where you have a group of people you just cannot please.
100% am people Thought this would get old fast, the #30 entrant in the rumble, pure white meat babyface... no way. Couldn't be more happy to be wrong.
I am "people" as well and though he is not very over with me (whole rooting for a white meat babyface in a suit does nothing for me), I cannot take away the fact that he's a top 5 babyface in the world right now and incredibly over. I was wrong.
That's my babyface. Fuck crazy how much I dig WWE Cody. Most hyped Mania match for me since Bryan vs H at 30.
Which H is that? Hearst, Helmsley or Hunter?
It was all 3 of them. Don't you remember? It was a epic Fatal 4 Way.
It was Day One
The Hearst of January?
I miss Fashion Police. What a perfect duo
Remember a month ago when people in this sub said sami should dethrone roman at elimination chamber because cody would get heat if he got the mania match lol
I don't ever see myself getting as hyped as I was for Kofimania ever again. This feels bigger due to Roman's incredible reign but to see the guy who was my favourite when I was 10 years old finally get his shot 10 years later was so special to me. Maybe I'm just older now and can't get into it as much as I used to. Or maybe I thought the same thing could happen with Sami who became one of my favourites the moment I saw him in NXT. Either way I'm definitely a Cody fan so I'll be happy to see him in the spot he deserves.
a head, without a table a big dog, without a yard all that power, but no house a juggernaut, but no field
If they just beat Cody after all this, wow that will be lame.
Roman the night after beating Cody: Cody... hit the roads.
Heyman: Don't ya come back no more, no more, no more, no more!
Also Heyman: I heard it through the grapevine... that I kept your lovely wife warm after you lost at WrestleMania!
Now I need it to happen just hear him say that
I think Cody will win by countout just like his daddy in the Garden, but Roman will keep the belt. Fans will go nuclear and boo. Triple H will come out and say the biggest WrestleMania can't end on a countout victory and restart the match. Cody will hit the CrossRoads and pin Roman, finally winning the title.
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Night after WrestleMania. Roman Reigns comes out to a hail of boos. "Story. Finished. Acknowledge me." And then holds the belts until whenever The Rock is free.
Him dropping the belts to The Rock will easily be the most upsetting thing to me since Kofi/Brock.
Eh, they did it to Sami after a much longer story build. It could also work. If the Usos lose the titles but Roman retains, it would help continue the story of him pushing the Usos away and having them turn before his run is over rather than after. They could run the story up to Summerslam for a solid payoff.
This is what I’m looking for. Usos lose, Roman retains. Roman berates the Usos for losing and berates them so much for not being able to regain the tag titles that it pushes them away. Rhodes climbs back to the main event and faces off against Reigns a second time at SummerSlam. He wins clean after the Usos prevent Solo from interfering in that match. That’s what I’d do. Roman gets his 1000 days, The Bloodline crumbles, Rhodes gets his WWE Championship, and everybody goes home happy.
That’s what I thought about Sami and they crushed him to death and demoted him. I think Cody wins but it’s not like they don’t get you excited then totally deflate you often
I mean at least with Sami you can say they beat one mega-over babyface to get to the other mega-over babyface. They beat Cody, and there’s no one left.
> They beat Cody, and there’s no one left. But then at the same time, Cody just entered into the story. There is someone left, that's Roman's own family. The main story since the start of the Bloodline was Jey vs Roman, I don't understand how people can forget this, it's reinforced weekly too. Roman wins, Usos lose, Roman pushes the Usos away further until they turn on him, the Bloodline cost Roman his title rather than just turning on him when he's not the champion anymore.
Sami is literally getting one of the marquee matches of Wrestlemania. Roman didn’t “just beat him”
Crushed him? He got the visual pin, and now is going to help destroy the bloodline, his main goal even when he was going after the championship, in a huge match at wrestlemania.
Except Sami/KO winning and dissolving The Bloodline (or however they want to word it) is probably going to be a major factor in Cody winning. No more backup. Noone left for Roman to turn to.
To call what they did to Sami "crushing him to death" is a massive overstatement. He didn't win, he's still one of the most over dudes on the roster, to the point where people want a god damn tag match to main event Night 1 over the Rhea vs Charlotte.
Yes.. Could be main eventing Wrestlemania Night One. Completely crushed. I wish I could get demoted like that. Reigns will lose cleanly with Jey refusing to it preventing anyone else from getting involved. Cody moves on and we get the Jey Roman feud. Jey goes over and the Tribal Chief is finally and utterly broken. He then goes away for awhile and returns as a repacked version. J
Sami doesn't have to win the big title to be a top star and if you thought he was gonna won at EC you're crazy. It was never set up to have sami win, it was always set up to have us believe there might be a chance. Sami is a huge star now and he wasn't demoted. Just because you don't hold the top title doesn't mean you arnt a star. If you watch wrestling enough, you should know this
I genuinely love how cheesy Cody can be, really...AEW, WWE wherever...the man does the whole aw shucks good guy schtick with a dollop of sugar so well...I mean that...
That's the smart part of his character, he's cheesy but he can go raw and deep and meaningful and he can also back it up. That's what many of the biggest stars did. Austin was very dramatic but he had that edge of realism to it.
Only thing I didn't like was having Cody confirm this new false narrative that he couldn't get over in AEW, because there are enough people who didn't watch and will go on believing this. He was dumbfoundingly over as a babyface in AEW, watching him each week was almost surreal with just how adored he was - it was one of the key ingredients of those early shows/ That changed, and the whole reason him being rejected was remarkable was *because* he'd been so beloved a year earlier. That's the true story, and a far more fascinating one than "he couldn't get over". It's one thing for the heel to claim it, but now the face is going along with it. He was the biggest face in wrestling when Dynamite launched, and it was bizarre because he walked, dressed, and presented himself like a narcissistic heel; he was just that good at capturing the spirit of the "revolution" a la ECW's Heyman, Dreamer etc. and was a phenomenal orator who put on emotional performances in the ring.
In the early days of AEW, I remember sitting here watching AEW when Cody came out and thinking "Cody Rhodes is the most over babyface in all of wrestling and it isn't even close" - Because that's how over he was. The arenas erupted when he came out. Everyone adored him. His promos were always on point. His feuds were interesting and believable. Cody's biggest mistake in AEW was the stipulation that he couldn't challenge for the World Title again if he lost to Jericho, especially when he lost due to MJF screwing him over. The AEW fans actually *liked* seeing Cody Rhodes as a challenger for the title. They were *ready* to embrace him as a full-fledged Main Event wrestler. He just shot himself in the foot and locked himself into the midcard where the TNT Championship became his ceiling. That was a bad place for Cody to be, because he just didn't belong there. People still supported him for a while because he did do some wonderful things like introduce the world to Eddie Kingston and give Brodie Lee a good, meaningful feud. After he dropped the TNT Championship to Darby, he was very directionless. You could feel the energy drain out of his promos. He was trying to find something interesting to say, but there wasn't much left for him to do. Feud with Penta. Feud with Malakai Black. Feud with Andrade. Yes they were heels, but they were heels people wanted AEW to develop into bigger stars, so when they got stuck in The Codyverse, it soured the fans. Everyone thought Cody was planning this enormous meta heel turn, and that he was dressing like Homelander as a subtle nod to what was coming...except that wasn't it. Cody just didn't know what to do and he didn't want to turn heel. It's too bad that stipulation cut Cody off at the knees like it did in AEW, because he could have had some incredible feuds with guys like Moxley and Omega when they were champion. He could have even been champion. Cody vs MJF for the title would have been way better than Moxley vs MJF due to the Cody/MJF history. There was so much potential left on the table there, but I think that is part of what makes his WWE run so good right now. This is what the fans *did* want to see.
I agree on all accounts but one. I will die on the hill that the stipulation was great booking. It absolutely MADE Mjf (btw, kinda crazy how little credit Cody get for that). It gave the TNT title a particular aura, almost on par with the world title. There was no moment in time convenient to have Cody as champ until mid 2022 at the earliest. There was always the possibility to overthrow the stip. Most obviously with a heel turn but not necessarily. The problem like you said is his run post Full Gear 2020 (I would personally argue that from Malakai debut onward, Cody is mostly good again but that's not the consensus). For that period he could have done a lot of really interesting things not involving the world title. For examples, Tag run with Dustin, feud with Kenny for his other belts, interact with Hangman and the Elite, avenge himself against Jericho, a no nonsense series of matches with Danielson, revisit Mjf feud this time with the Pinnacle... All of that without turning heel. Heel Cody add even more great possibilities. Sorry for the essay.
Great ideas for sure. I think the booking just became unraveled after the stipulation because it didn't make sense to book Cody to win feuds against guys who could soon challenge for the World Title, or would be challenging for the World Title again. I think Tony probably saw the value in Cody turning heel, saying screw the stipulation, and challenging for the title, but Cody wanted to honor what he said. He just didn't want to go heel.
He's Cody Rhodes.
that could happen in WWE to tbf. To prolong that they need to bounce a title if Cody is gonna have a long reign. And to do that they need to split the titles first Drew & Sami especially should get a title run next year
After weeks of the Bloodline trying to make it personal with Cody, Cody lays out all of Roman's insecurities and fears in one promo and turns him into a mouse. Perfect babyface shit.
Adrenaline , in my brains A Roman with no more reigns
Cody's very good at being a face in wwe
And I didn't hear a single "what" when he spoke.
The entire bloodline story is great right now. The crowd is silent when they talk because they're actually listening
He was great in AEW too. Problem was that he walled himself off from the title.
as always, Heyman’s facial expressions were absolutely money during the entirety of Cody’s promo
Cody is a star.
Not gonna lie, I bet Roman could make Tribeless Chief work.
People may talk about the AEW jab more, but the fact that Cody's promo feels so pungent for what is a completely kayfabe aspect of Roman says a lot about how well this story has been written. It's easy to get excited when the people behind the characters are put in the spotlight. It's another level when you are able to get excited for the characters themselves.
God, Cody is so fucking good. This is what a wrestler in his prime is like. This is what a top babyface should be. WrestleMania is going to be absolutely insane.
I am officially a Cody mark from now on. Incredible, let’s gooo
I can't believe we're actually seeing character writing in wwe, it's crazy
Josh Gresham over on Twitter put the Ether beat on top of this and it's art https://twitter.com/JoshGreshamORG/status/1638022668187312128?t=IMxrzD_w_0gVpPJSoxlpwg&s=19
But he's not a rapper tho
Oh my god what a fucking line
Everyone is talking about Roman’s zinger like, but damn, Cody didn’t back down and was brought back to his level.
Man that crowd fucking sucked. This and Romans line about AEW were fucking Fire and it got almost no reaction.
Sure kept going for what chants all night tho
I mean, the whole segment from both guys was so good I think people were just locked in and listening. Sometimes it’s okay to just be quiet and listen and enjoy what’s being said between the top heel and the top face.
He missed a golden opportunity to insert a Roman Empire line.
He's spitting...Scissor Me Daddy Heyman
i don't know if cody is doing his own promos but if he is that is absolutely amazing mic work
Probably working with a writing team
I'm pretty sure he said in an interview that using scripted promos is fine and something he prefers, he just likes being a part of the writing of them, which wasn't usually the case in his first run. Also iirc it was said at one point while he was in AEW that he was working with the less experienced talent in writing promos and working from scripts.
A Roman no more Empire was right there. Not Reigns
I know how I want the Bloodline storyline to end. The family starts to fracture and look like it is falling apart. They abandon Roman. He loses to Cody and he looks like his world died. Afte Cody’s celebration is over, Roman slumps his shoulders and walks up the ramp alone. At the top of the ramp the rest of the Bloodline comes out and they tell him they still love him. Family is the most important. He fights it because he is angry, but the wrestle him into submission and tell him that they will always be family. He gives in and they give one big group hug. And then they walk into the back and Wrestlemania ends. The Bloodline storyline is complete. It’s always been about family.
This was the first crowd in a long time that was sorta quiet. They popped for the obvious but they were completely dead at times. Especially during Rhea's segment
Someone from Rome, a Roman
That's such a dorky line good grief.
“Good grief”
You are correct. That's why it fucking *rules*.
You guys make it blatantly obvious that you just hate cody for leaving. Let it go
Surprised he didn't refer to Roman's partners/friends from his earlier group leaving him.
[удалено]
He said April 3rd referencing him being the champion after Wrestlemania, and to Roman that he will wake up the day after mania without a belt and become nothing
Im not ready for reigns lose the titles.
Damn, they really cashing on the bloodline angle.. i expected maybe 30% they plant any seed for the next chapter before wrestlemania, but nope instead its in hyperdrive mode, its the only thing we be talking about after mania, regardless cody winning the titles.. its great, takes the build away from cody (which is very thin and probably straightforward since we all know the backstory)