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Post by DoubleDare on Apr 9, 2024 8:15:18 GMT -5
In hindsight yes.
But not in hindsight, no .Ultimatelly if what happened with Vince didn't happen, it may be a different story now and since that looms as a possibility that could've happened, I'll say no. They are lucky they now listen to the fans and pivoted.
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Post by HMARK Center on Apr 9, 2024 9:10:25 GMT -5
I can't really go for that last part - I just don't think it works when it all relies on 'well, in retrospect, it worked out', given how much could have easily gone wrong between Cody kind of doing 'busywork' for just about all of 2023 after WM and Rock nearly derailing everything. However, I do think you've got a very interesting argument there at the top, for sure - given how tough it's been particularly for WWE to get a strong top babyface push going without a negative fan reaction, it's possible that having Cody lose last year was another intentional cue to the audience saying "Vince isn't booking, anymore." I'd still say the way they went about it didn't make the most sense/had too much potential to backfire on them if things hadn't gone just right, but it's an interesting line of logic for all of this that might have some more to it when looking back over the year. But I think that makes the idea of Roman winning last year to be a far crazier and indefensible decision than it actually ever was. It was a judgement call that you can argue either way. Tribal Chief Roman and The Bloodline were/are one of the most over and financially successful acts the company has ever had. They chose to carry on milking that and keep Cody strong and over leading Raw for another year. And that's what happened. It wasn't like it was all failing and then they got bailed out by something unforseen. I totally take on board anyone's opinion that doing things another way would've been less riskier or better creatively. But what they set out to get, they got. Business remained good, ratings increased YoY, The Bloodline melodrama continued to draw, the audience at shows were into what Cody was doing, busywork or not. And then The Rock coming back as a near full time act for months and turning heel was a massive bonus. I also always feel like when this topic comes up, people tend to talk as though Cody wins at WM39 and is made forever. There's still plenty that could've gone wrong in any scenario. On the first part, I guess, but that's a business question and less a creative one. Even then, I still think the stories told with both guys would've been more effective and potentially drawn even better if the outcome had been reversed last year. They got away with it, people still watched and reacted to Cody, especially, but they really didn't spend the year doing much to justify any of it; if they knew that would happen then good on them, I suppose, but the fact it came close to being shut down via the Rock initially taking the main event spot makes the decision seem even riskier, along with being less creatively fulfilling until Rock went full Hollywood Rock and added a lot to things. I still think the more interesting conversation is if the handling of Cody was done with a more subtle intention of trying to convince the largest audience possible that he wasn't going to get booked like Cena or Roman had under Vince. I can't say for sure one way or another, but it's at least a different angle to all of this.
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BRV
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Wants him some Taco Flavored Kisses.
Posts: 16,903
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Post by BRV on Apr 9, 2024 10:42:24 GMT -5
Losing at WM39 and The Rock stealing his main event made Cody far more popular than he was beforehand. People forget how people were already cooling on Cody prior to WM39, because it was kind of boring seeing him turn up and inevitably win. People wanted Sami.To be a babyface with any kind of longevity these days, you have to at least have the sense that you're not just the handpicked guy 'they' want you to cheer. Whether that's how they drew it up, no. But as I've always said, ask anyone involved whether they'd go back and change the WM39 result and nobody would. What they got out of it was another year of growing ratings and interest, an all-time heel run from The Rock (which is seemingly going to continue) and the biggest WrestleMania ever. And they still have an entire Cody Rhodes world title reign ahead of them to book. That's plainly false. When Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn were paired on screen together in the build to Elimination Chamber in Montreal, they were getting equal levels of fan appreciation. The crowds were 100 percent behind Sami heading into Montreal, but it wasn't a zero-sum game. Just because they were cheering for Sami didn't mean they weren't also cheering for Cody.
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Post by polarbearpete on Apr 9, 2024 11:14:40 GMT -5
Losing at WM39 and The Rock stealing his main event made Cody far more popular than he was beforehand. People forget how people were already cooling on Cody prior to WM39, because it was kind of boring seeing him turn up and inevitably win. People wanted Sami. To be a babyface with any kind of longevity these days, you have to at least have the sense that you're not just the handpicked guy 'they' want you to cheer. Whether that's how they drew it up, no. But as I've always said, ask anyone involved whether they'd go back and change the WM39 result and nobody would. What they got out of it was another year of growing ratings and interest, an all-time heel run from The Rock (which is seemingly going to continue) and the biggest WrestleMania ever. And they still have an entire Cody Rhodes world title reign ahead of them to book. I can't really go for that last part - I just don't think it works when it all relies on 'well, in retrospect, it worked out', given how much could have easily gone wrong between Cody kind of doing 'busywork' for just about all of 2023 after WM and Rock nearly derailing everything. However, I do think you've got a very interesting argument there at the top, for sure - given how tough it's been particularly for WWE to get a strong top babyface push going without a negative fan reaction, it's possible that having Cody lose last year was another intentional cue to the audience saying "Vince isn't booking, anymore." I'd still say the way they went about it didn't make the most sense/had too much potential to backfire on them if things hadn't gone just right, but it's an interesting line of logic for all of this that might have some more to it when looking back over the year. I don’t think anyone would argue that it wasn’t extremely risky to have Cody lose last year. It definitely could have backfired. But, whether through their own booking and/or through Cody killing it in his role, they did manage to make Cody more popular now than he would’ve been (in my opinion) at this point had he won last year. This year felt much more meaningful both for Cody and for the company (it truly felt like a new era by the end of Night 2).
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Post by joeiscool on Apr 9, 2024 11:59:50 GMT -5
It made for a better story. People were legit mad and are legit happy now.
In a world where we don't get invested in much cause we "know" the truth, it's cool to see people legit happy about the outcome of a worked match.
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Post by joeiscool on Apr 9, 2024 12:10:46 GMT -5
Also winning now seems to mean more storyline wise...
Before in storyline Cody beat Seth 3 times and won the Rumble at 30. There was nothing really storyline wise that is seemingly significant to warrant the win.. Most people where like CODY SHOULD HAVE WON CAUSE HE WAS STARDUST, AND STARDUST SUCKED...
Now there's more of an arc of Cody working his way up storyline wise that worked.
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Post by kingofthings on Apr 9, 2024 15:43:15 GMT -5
Interesting to think of the hypotheticals.
Taking in to account no injuries changing I guess it could've meant Roman/Rock would've just been free to happen without the title being a complication in the mix.
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Post by stoptheclocks on Apr 9, 2024 16:42:51 GMT -5
Losing at WM39 and The Rock stealing his main event made Cody far more popular than he was beforehand. People forget how people were already cooling on Cody prior to WM39, because it was kind of boring seeing him turn up and inevitably win. People wanted Sami. To be a babyface with any kind of longevity these days, you have to at least have the sense that you're not just the handpicked guy 'they' want you to cheer. Whether that's how they drew it up, no. But as I've always said, ask anyone involved whether they'd go back and change the WM39 result and nobody would. What they got out of it was another year of growing ratings and interest, an all-time heel run from The Rock (which is seemingly going to continue) and the biggest WrestleMania ever. And they still have an entire Cody Rhodes world title reign ahead of them to book. Cody was the top selling merch mover up to his Mania match last year, that wasn’t a one off occurrence either. What is this based on? To be honest, I am mostly taking this board to be a temperature check for hardcore wrestling fans. Usually when people on here start turning against something it eventually feeds through to the smarkier cities and then the fanbase at large. But if we're not considering people on here, then I'm not sure what the problem is? It's not like any of WWE's crowds this year rejected what they were doing with Cody or Roman, up until The Rock got involved (which clearly wasn't something on the radar last year). All the things people on here say were tired or spinning wheels (Cody vs Brock, Bloodline drama) were all lapped up by fans in the arenas and led to improved ratings and general business. At what point were there any actual, tangible, negative consequences to Roman winning at Mania last year?
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JCBaggee
Hank Scorpio
Writer, streamer. I used to write for CBR but then they fired everyone who cared about their writers
Posts: 6,783
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Post by JCBaggee on Apr 9, 2024 17:00:51 GMT -5
No, because Cody only won this time because the fans went completely mad.
If they hadn't listened to the fan reaction, Rock would have probably won the belt and then disappeared until Summerslam.
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Post by MalloryDagger on Apr 13, 2024 22:30:21 GMT -5
100% yes.
It made this victory so much sweeter.
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Post by Doo Doo is Worse Than WCW 2000 on Apr 14, 2024 0:56:45 GMT -5
It's been almost a week and I'm still gonna say no. I'm just not dwelling on it anymore.
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