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Joseph Staszewski
Struggle
The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, Post Match Angle..
The dream match of Roman Reigns facing The Rock and Cody Rhodes finally ending his story against Reigns at WrestleMania were two things that had a chance to be universally celebrated.
Surprisingly, WWE found a way to lose them both, for now.
WWE made Rhodes look terrible as reports and rumors say he called a WrestleMania 40 audible that Rock himself pushed after CM Punk was injured and news of Vince McMahon’s resignation after a lawsuit accused him of assault sex and sex trafficking put the company in a bad situation. light.
He had the events of the Royal Rumble and Rhodes graciously pushed aside on SmackDown for The Rock to officially take his WrestleMania match against Reigns feeling disjointed.
Instead of moving toward being “the guy” for WWE to build around after two years of tireless work, merchandise sales and crowd reactions at the highest level, Rhodes was reduced to a red herring, so he has no time at Rock and works part time. Reigns may main event the biggest WrestleMania in history this April in Philadelphia.
The way the change was made is much worse than the change itself.
Rhodes is a true professional because of how he handled himself. He, and even the fans, understand that this is a business and Rock, now a TKO board member with a $30 million stock award, is one of the biggest money-making stars in all of entertainment, and that’s what WWE is taking advantage of.
Rhodes did the ceremonial handshake and hug with the Rock to try to end this. But Rhodes seemed unmoved and devastated as he did so.
You can argue that Rollins vs. Rhodes and now maybe Drew McIntrye isn’t a much bigger match than, say, Rhea Ripley vs. Becky Lynch for the women’s world championship.
But let’s step back for a moment and look at how Rhodes ended up being a narrative asset and undermined by the entire SmackDown segment.
After winning the Royal Rumble, Rhodes pointed directly at Reigns to all but confirm the main event, and it felt like WWE had put him in the company of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels as a sign that they saw him as the boy advancing. Rhodes himself then called himself “the guy” at the post-show press conference.
His fans might exhale.
On SmackDown, Reigns began the terrible turnaround delivery, basically calling Rollins’ championship the “losers’ bracket” title and telling Rhodes that winning that belt makes him the better of the “two.” He makes Rhodes’ current quest feel lesser than it does now.
Rhodes then, with the crowd chanting his name, gave all the reasons why he should face Reigns, only to clumsily change the foundation of his entire WWE career by telling Reigns that he still plans to take the belt from him and now take it from him as well. “all”. – but not at WrestleMania.
Then, in an attempt to make this all seem like Rhodes’ idea, he said he sought Rock’s advice on his decision after Rollins made a passionate but illogical case to confront him. Now, even in history, Rock participated in the change.
The only way this makes sense is if Rhodes believes that Rock beating Reigns and stripping him of being “Tribal Chief” is the first step in “taking everything away from him,” but it doesn’t feel like something he should care about.
Rhodes’ motto has always been “get the job done.” He did it and it paid off for someone else.
“End the story” is becoming a punchline.
It all led to die-hard fans flooding social media with #WeWantCody and disliking the YouTube video of the SmackDown segment in a viral effort to get Rhodes back in the main event. On Raw, they chanted “We want Cody” and “Rocky sucks!” while Michael Cole and Pat McAfee did not ignore the waves behind him.
Rhodes told fans to “trust me” in an adjustment during Raw.
It will take more, louder nights like that for WWE to consider reversing course on potential big deals – booing Rock and Reigns out of the building every night and hijacking their Rhodes-loving segments could do so at the risk of ruining a dream. fief. But don’t cross the line, like some people seem to have done with Rock’s daughter and NXT star Ava, who tweeted that she received “death threats over a situation I have nothing to do with.” That can never be tolerated.
That being said, Rhodes has never been a bigger babyface than he is now and perhaps WWE knew that would happen and may hold him back in the future as Reigns could probably surpass Hulk Hogan for the third-longest world title reign in WWE history.
And there are ways to remedy this whole situation and technically none of the main event matches are official yet.
Rock needs to return the favor and put Rhodes in power before Dusty’s son overthrows Reigns, perhaps at Madison Square Garden to bring the story full circle.
That could mean Rhodes beats Rock in a match, upset with him for losing to Reigns. It could also be a passionate promo from Rhodes to Rock to tell him that he should have never missed his chance and that now he will do what you, the legend, couldn’t.
It’s up to WWE, perhaps after undeniable fan backlash, to get this right after finding a way to turn two sure wins into an unknown.
The count of 10
Bayley’s babyface turn was well done. Clear reasons for this were given when she heard Iyo, Asuka and Kairi Sane say that she was done tonight in the locker room, revealed that she spoke Japanese all the time and even brought a pipe suspecting that they would turn on her. The audience is clearly ready to cheer for Bayley and WWE delivered. The question is who Dakota Kai sides with. And if she sides with Bayley, they need one more. Liv Morgan?
Having Chase U saved from his gambling debts thanks to Jacy Jane putting together “The Ladies of Chase U” calendar that WWE Shop is selling and Dijak tossing Joe Gacy through a trailer in the NXT parking lot felt so close to the Attitude I was like you. I will enter the PG world of WWE.
Some of the ways NXT tried to build tension during the matches between Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes were a little awkward on Vengeance Day. But Hayes’ heel attack ultimately got the desired reaction and left NXT with two options: Williams needs to win a triple threat match against Hayes and NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov or have Hayes become champion and defeat him in Stand & Deliver as fans. I want to see Williams reign.
DIY needs to be the new unified tag team champion. He then splits the belts with so many deserving teams in WWE now. The Babyfaces can say they’ll defend them separately, right?
Having general managers again makes adding call-ups and new signings to the main roster feel that much more important by having people fighting for their services.
TNA opened the door for Nic Nemeth to need some friends with Steve Maclin and the Rascalz attacking him. One would be assumed to be Brother Ryan Nemeth. Who is the third man will be the fun question. Nemeth and Matt Cardona also entertained us greatly in GCW this week, even with some shots at The Rock.
Tony Khan’s “big announcement” next week better be just that, when fans will be waiting for the announced signing of Mercedes Mone’ or Kazuchika Okada.
Swerve Strickland proves time and time again that he is AEW’s guy. He had a fight with Rob Van Dam, who is still just incredible in the ring for his age. Strickland and Daniel Garcia’s stock continues to rise as the latter’s dance ends and he racks up wins, with Christian Cage and the TNT Title in his sights.
I’m no joshi wrestling expert, but it’s worth keeping an eye on the aftershocks of Stardom founder and executive producer Rossy Ogawa’s firing over the weekend, as rumors circulate that one of Stardom’s biggest stars promotion, Guilia, could be headed to WWE at some point. . Stardom’s parent company, Bushiroad, accused Ogawa of “poaching several Stardom athletes and staff.” Rossy denied doing so to Tokyo Sports and said that he plans to start a new promotion. by Fighter.
Jey Uso deserves to be the next challenger to Gunther’s Intercontinental championship, and man, the champion was a threat on the microphone on Monday for him. But what if Jimmy Uso cost Jey an Elimination Chamber victory out of jealousy to set up a match at WrestleMania?
Fighter of the week
Satoshi Kojima
The 53-year-old Japanese wrestling legend made history by becoming the first repeat world champion in MLW history, defeating Alex Kane at MLW SuperFight on Saturday. Kojima previously won the title in 2002, ending Kane’s seven-month reign. It will be interesting to see where MLW goes from here and if Kane gets a rematch.
Post of the week on social networks
Match to watch
Sting and Darby Allen vs. Ricky Starks and Big Bill, AEW tag team championship (Dynamite, Wednesday, 8 pm)
Yes, Swerve Strickland and “Hangman” Adam Page face off in a number one contender match for the world title, but Sting’s in-ring career has one month left and this is probably his last chance to win any kind of gold. . The icon last held a title in 2011 as TNA World Heavyweight Champion and winning here would make his final match at Revolution even more meaningful.
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