The Cody Rhodes Story Thread (IT'S OVER)

[EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese]

Apr 4, 2023 23:15:49 GMT -5 polarbearpete said:

Heyman on the booking:

I like the fact that everyone walks in now thinking this is the last title defense. I experienced this before, it was something I had a hand in ending, which was the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania. Every year, you sat there, ‘Oh, this is it.’ During the match, the audience is anticipating and salivating for it, this to be the moment that they get to witness the historical three count on the Undertaker to which the streak would end. Then, when Undertaker would defend the streak, they would say, ‘I don’t want to see this end, I can’t wait until the next chapter.’ Then, it finally ended, and the audience was shocked. They thought they would see it, they thought they would see it, them didn’t.

It’s the same thing with Roman Reigns’ title defenses now. You hope this is the one, you think this is the one, you’re sure this is the one. You watch the match happening, you know this is the one. Then it turns out to not be the one. ‘Man, I can’t wait to see the next chapter.’ The response [at WrestleMania 39] to Cody Rhodes, which was louder than the response last week, which was a response more passionate, which was the response of an audience that believes in Cody Rhodes this week more than they did last week when they hung their hopes and dreams on him. He didn’t disappoint them. We disappointed them. We took that away from Cody Rhodes. Roman Reigns took that away from Cody Rhodes and the audience. They blame Roman Reigns for it and they appreciate how close Cody came and they know the next time Cody steps in the ring with Roman Reigns, ‘this will be the one.’ That’s the business. That’s the business at its very best. That’s promotion at its very best. That’s storytelling at its very best. That’s what you want. You want the challenger to come out a bigger star than he would have been if he won because then, where do you go from there? What’s the story to tell? Now, you know the story. It’s Cody’s redemption. It’s coming back from what was just taken from him. From the defeat he just suffered that he didn’t deserve to have inflicted upon him.
…
We’ll be hearing this all summer. ‘Oh, this is perfect. The stars are aligned. It has to happen now.’ We’ve been hearing this the whole time. Two years ago, last SummerSlam with Brock, the Royal Rumble with Kevin Owens, Montreal with Sami, Cardiff with Drew McIntyre, two SummerSlams ago with John Cena. ‘This is where John Cena gets number 17. Wouldn’t it be perfect if he beats Roman Reigns. This is it. John Cena becomes the most decorated champion of all time. Perfect. Everything is in line.’ Of course it’s in line for it. That’s how you make a challenger. If the challenger is, ‘I guess this is okay.’ Nobody is going to buy that. ‘IT HAS TO HAPPEN NOW!’ That’s the promotional business.
…
Whichever is the biggest box office. If the biggest box office dictates, ‘let’s get to it right now, this moment.’ We already sold out the Crypto Arena (for Raw), so that’s not the biggest box office. If it would dictate to do it at the next Premium Live Event, okay. Do it in London, okay. Cowboy Stadium again, okay. You go for the biggest box office. It’s a business. When will people be at their peak of the desire to see Cody challenge again for the championship to such a degree that they’re willing to pay the most money to see it happen?

And all that reasoning goes out the window for two reasons:

1. A lot more people than you’re mentioning are just plain sick of this story and wanted this result so it would start the next one

2. Nobody is blaming the fictional character of Roman Reigns for this, they’re blaming the very real bookers that chose to do that result

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Apr 4, 2023 23:28:11 GMT -5 mc74 said:

Apr 4, 2023 23:25:55 GMT -5 Chiral said:

‘Man, I can’t wait to see the next chapter.’ is absolutely not what I think for each of these shit finishes

More like "This shit is getting old". The reign has went on so long that there are barely any chapters left to write. Roman has literally plowed through the entire f***ing roster.

Said it in the Mania thread but this story now feels like it's an Epilogue, but it's an Epilogue where the villain ended up winning and they're just bragging about it.

And now it's an epilogue where the villain won, bragged about it, and then the hero got beaten up by ANOTHER villain who pretended to be his friend, just to really emphasize who won lmfao

[Red Mage Riot]

Apr 4, 2023 23:12:22 GMT -5 polarbearpete said:

Apr 4, 2023 21:39:40 GMT -5 A Little Doo Doo said:

I have no problem at all with people saying they're glad Roman retained because they still love the storyline and prefer him to Cody. They don't need to keep making these BS excuses about Cody not struggling enough or whatever.

That was one of the reasons given by people before Mania for why Sami should have been given the title match at Mania and not Cody. It was Sami’s story, Cody hasn’t struggled enough or had a long enough journey since coming back to get the title match.

I thought they went the right route with Cody toppling Roman at Mania instead of Sami and I would’ve booked Cody to win Sunday, but that was definitely something that was put out there before all of this happened and not just a post-Mania excuse.

Yeah, I'll own this one. From my perception, Cody's Mania run amounted to "I came back from an injury, title please!" without doing anything to actually make it mean something in the story, and I hated it. It was purely a push based around absence making the heart grow fonder. Sami should have gotten the shot, he put in the work. But now....man, dodged that bullet.

[Lizuka #BLM]

The streak ending broke this damn company's brains, I swear. The only thing they give a shit about anymore is finding silly surprised faces in the crowd after they swerve people.

Also, like, the follow-up to the end of the streak sucked ass. Heyman completely buried Cesaro talking about it every week instead of putting him over and Brock didn't give a damn rub to anyone coming out of it until Seth four years later when no one cared anymore.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Apr 4, 2023 23:15:49 GMT -5 polarbearpete said:

Heyman on the booking:

I like the fact that everyone walks in now thinking this is the last title defense. I experienced this before, it was something I had a hand in ending, which was the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania. Every year, you sat there, ‘Oh, this is it.’ During the match, the audience is anticipating and salivating for it, this to be the moment that they get to witness the historical three count on the Undertaker to which the streak would end. Then, when Undertaker would defend the streak, they would say, ‘I don’t want to see this end, I can’t wait until the next chapter.’ Then, it finally ended, and the audience was shocked. They thought they would see it, they thought they would see it, them didn’t.

It’s the same thing with Roman Reigns’ title defenses now. You hope this is the one, you think this is the one, you’re sure this is the one. You watch the match happening, you know this is the one. Then it turns out to not be the one. ‘Man, I can’t wait to see the next chapter.’ The response [at WrestleMania 39] to Cody Rhodes, which was louder than the response last week, which was a response more passionate, which was the response of an audience that believes in Cody Rhodes this week more than they did last week when they hung their hopes and dreams on him. He didn’t disappoint them. We disappointed them. We took that away from Cody Rhodes. Roman Reigns took that away from Cody Rhodes and the audience. They blame Roman Reigns for it and they appreciate how close Cody came and they know the next time Cody steps in the ring with Roman Reigns, ‘this will be the one.’ That’s the business. That’s the business at its very best. That’s promotion at its very best. That’s storytelling at its very best. That’s what you want. You want the challenger to come out a bigger star than he would have been if he won because then, where do you go from there? What’s the story to tell? Now, you know the story. It’s Cody’s redemption. It’s coming back from what was just taken from him. From the defeat he just suffered that he didn’t deserve to have inflicted upon him.
…
We’ll be hearing this all summer. ‘Oh, this is perfect. The stars are aligned. It has to happen now.’ We’ve been hearing this the whole time. Two years ago, last SummerSlam with Brock, the Royal Rumble with Kevin Owens, Montreal with Sami, Cardiff with Drew McIntyre, two SummerSlams ago with John Cena. ‘This is where John Cena gets number 17. Wouldn’t it be perfect if he beats Roman Reigns. This is it. John Cena becomes the most decorated champion of all time. Perfect. Everything is in line.’ Of course it’s in line for it. That’s how you make a challenger. If the challenger is, ‘I guess this is okay.’ Nobody is going to buy that. ‘IT HAS TO HAPPEN NOW!’ That’s the promotional business.
…
Whichever is the biggest box office. If the biggest box office dictates, ‘let’s get to it right now, this moment.’ We already sold out the Crypto Arena (for Raw), so that’s not the biggest box office. If it would dictate to do it at the next Premium Live Event, okay. Do it in London, okay. Cowboy Stadium again, okay. You go for the biggest box office. It’s a business. When will people be at their peak of the desire to see Cody challenge again for the championship to such a degree that they’re willing to pay the most money to see it happen?

All that dumb backwash when he could have just said "My WWE check cleared this week so let me huff Vince's farts!" lmfao

[Bruce Mother Wayne]

When will people be at their peak of the desire to see Cody challenge again for the championship to such a degree that they’re willing to pay the most money to see it happen?

April 2nd, 2023. Kind of obvious, innit?

[asuka007]

I feel like WWE and the defenders of this are acting like this “Roman is unbeatable, Roman never loses, Roman hogs the top belts” thing hasn’t even going on for THREE YEARS now!! You cannot even say fans “lack patience” because they’ve been patient for years now.

But you cannot expect them to have UNLIMITED patience. Like freaking War & Peace didn’t take this long to tell.

So what Roman goes off on vacation and we have yet more time with the main event scene being stuck in limbo and no one being able to advance until Roman is finally allowed to freaking lose? Or do we get more filler Roman feuds where there’s zero tension because you know going in Roman ain’t losing? Meanwhile you have to HOPE Cody can maintain the same level of momentum.

AND you’ve kind of undercut KO and Sami in the process as well.

Like how much longer do you want fans to “be painted.” Get to the freaking point already, it’s been nearly 1,000 days of this.

Oh and another problem is that actual finish to the Mania match was the same lazy, overused, boring finish we’ve also been getting for years.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Apr 4, 2023 23:32:19 GMT -5 Bruce Mother Wayne said:

When will people be at their peak of the desire to see Cody challenge again for the championship to such a degree that they’re willing to pay the most money to see it happen?

April 2nd, 2023. Kind of obvious, innit?

Like seriously, Heyman's a WWE drone so long as he's being paid, and if Cody's moment wasn't in front of a supposed 80,000 seat crowd at what is supposed to be the biggest show of the year for them, it's never, and it'll never be as impactful again

[Red Mage Riot]

Apr 4, 2023 23:15:49 GMT -5 polarbearpete said:

Heyman on the booking:

I like the fact that everyone walks in now thinking this is the last title defense. I experienced this before, it was something I had a hand in ending, which was the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania. Every year, you sat there, ‘Oh, this is it.’ During the match, the audience is anticipating and salivating for it, this to be the moment that they get to witness the historical three count on the Undertaker to which the streak would end. Then, when Undertaker would defend the streak, they would say, ‘I don’t want to see this end, I can’t wait until the next chapter.’ Then, it finally ended, and the audience was shocked. They thought they would see it, they thought they would see it, them didn’t.

It’s the same thing with Roman Reigns’ title defenses now. You hope this is the one, you think this is the one, you’re sure this is the one. You watch the match happening, you know this is the one. Then it turns out to not be the one. ‘Man, I can’t wait to see the next chapter.’ The response [at WrestleMania 39] to Cody Rhodes, which was louder than the response last week, which was a response more passionate, which was the response of an audience that believes in Cody Rhodes this week more than they did last week when they hung their hopes and dreams on him. He didn’t disappoint them. We disappointed them. We took that away from Cody Rhodes. Roman Reigns took that away from Cody Rhodes and the audience. They blame Roman Reigns for it and they appreciate how close Cody came and they know the next time Cody steps in the ring with Roman Reigns, ‘this will be the one.’ That’s the business. That’s the business at its very best. That’s promotion at its very best. That’s storytelling at its very best. That’s what you want. You want the challenger to come out a bigger star than he would have been if he won because then, where do you go from there? What’s the story to tell? Now, you know the story. It’s Cody’s redemption. It’s coming back from what was just taken from him. From the defeat he just suffered that he didn’t deserve to have inflicted upon him.
…
We’ll be hearing this all summer. ‘Oh, this is perfect. The stars are aligned. It has to happen now.’ We’ve been hearing this the whole time. Two years ago, last SummerSlam with Brock, the Royal Rumble with Kevin Owens, Montreal with Sami, Cardiff with Drew McIntyre, two SummerSlams ago with John Cena. ‘This is where John Cena gets number 17. Wouldn’t it be perfect if he beats Roman Reigns. This is it. John Cena becomes the most decorated champion of all time. Perfect. Everything is in line.’ Of course it’s in line for it. That’s how you make a challenger. If the challenger is, ‘I guess this is okay.’ Nobody is going to buy that. ‘IT HAS TO HAPPEN NOW!’ That’s the promotional business.
…
Whichever is the biggest box office. If the biggest box office dictates, ‘let’s get to it right now, this moment.’ We already sold out the Crypto Arena (for Raw), so that’s not the biggest box office. If it would dictate to do it at the next Premium Live Event, okay. Do it in London, okay. Cowboy Stadium again, okay. You go for the biggest box office. It’s a business. When will people be at their peak of the desire to see Cody challenge again for the championship to such a degree that they’re willing to pay the most money to see it happen?

......Is this an "Emperor has no clothes" moment for Heyman? All these years, we've talked about what a genius booker he was/is/could be, but if he had a hand in THIS, and THIS BS is his justification for it......was he always a dope?

[Lizuka #BLM]

Also one of the last people on the goddamn planet I'd ask for tips on how to make my wrestling show draw money is Paul goddamn Heyman. I think the only person less qualified to speak on that is Dixie Carter.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Apr 4, 2023 23:33:31 GMT -5 asuka007 said:

I feel like WWE and the defenders of this are acting like this “Roman is unbeatable, Roman never loses, Roman hogs the top belts” thing hasn’t even going on for THREE YEARS now!! You cannot even say fans “lack patience” because they’ve been patient for years now.

But you cannot expect them to have UNLIMITED patience. Like freaking War & Peace didn’t take this long to tell.

So what Roman goes off on vacation and we have yet more time with the main event scene being stuck in limbo and no one being able to advance until Roman is finally allowed to freaking lose? Or do we get more filler Roman feuds where there’s zero tension because you know going in Roman ain’t losing? Meanwhile you have to HOPE Cody can maintain the same level of momentum.

AND you’ve kind of undercut KO and Sami in the process as well.

Like how much longer do you want fans to “be painted.” Get to the freaking point already, it’s been nearly 1,000 days of this.

Oh and another problem is that actual finish to the Mania match was the same lazy, overused, boring finish we’ve also been getting for years.

Roman has been destroying people PRE-PANDEMIC

Like this story outlasted that, anyone who wants to talk about patience or "wait and see" or "The story hasn't hit a climax yet that's worth pulling the trigger", we had Drew McIntyre, Sami Zayn, and Cody Rhodes all within the same year, all perfect moments, all in perfect settings, all just fed to this storyline that now clearly, they just don't want to see end, because everyone else has f***ing wanted to, and were essentially holding on till Mania to see that become a reality... and it didn't, and now a lot of people are pretty much done till it's over or maybe forever

Cody was one step away from being one of the next big major stars in WWE and while he still might be an upper carder or get another title match (Where even if he wins it doesn't mean what it did) they f***ed him and this whole thing up big time, and at this point, people are done hearing WWE cry wolf about how this time might be the time... next time. 

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Apr 4, 2023 23:33:48 GMT -5 Red Mage Riot said:

Apr 4, 2023 23:15:49 GMT -5 polarbearpete said:

Heyman on the booking:

......Is this an "Emperor has no clothes" moment for Heyman? All these years, we've talked about what a genius booker he was/is/could be, but if he had a hand in THIS, and THIS BS is his justification for it......was he always a dope?

Paul's a stooge tbh. He will criticize WWE and Vince when he's not on their payroll, when he is, he will defend every single thing they do and blame everyone else

Paul's a lot of things, but one of the things he absolutely is, is a huge smoke blower, and he'll do anything to keep on a good side, or torch it, if it means he'll make out like a bandit with it lol

[Chiral]

I couldn't get this out of my head so I had to slap it together quick

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}
(seriously though I feel so f***ing bad for cody oh my god)

[Tom Turkey]

Apr 4, 2023 23:29:07 GMT -5 EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese said:

Apr 4, 2023 23:15:49 GMT -5 polarbearpete said:

Heyman on the booking:

And all that reasoning goes out the window for two reasons:

1. A lot more people than you’re mentioning are just plain sick of this story and wanted this result so it would start the next one

2. Nobody is blaming the fictional character of Roman Reigns for this, they’re blaming the very real bookers that chose to do that result

I doubt anybody is mad at Roman Reigns the character or Joe Anoa'i the man behind the character, just the people responsible for booking Roman to be this unstoppable juggernaut for some reason.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Apr 5, 2023 0:31:34 GMT -5 Tom Turkey said:

Apr 4, 2023 23:29:07 GMT -5 EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese said:

And all that reasoning goes out the window for two reasons:

1. A lot more people than you’re mentioning are just plain sick of this story and wanted this result so it would start the next one

2. Nobody is blaming the fictional character of Roman Reigns for this, they’re blaming the very real bookers that chose to do that result

I doubt anybody is mad at Roman Reigns the character or Joe Anoa'i the man behind the character, just the people responsible for booking Roman to be this unstoppable juggernaut for some reason.

This. Like 100% this

Roman's character has been many times very cool and shown layers when they've actively allowed him to, he's good at this, he's shown he's an amazing heel

But that gets buried under piles of dogshit booking, to the point it doesn't really matter anymore. Roman was white hot with Sami's feud, the Rumble ending proved that, then people got mad when Sami lost because the natural conclusion to this was Cody would be the one to ultimately beat Roman, have him lose the belt, and take that character to the next level and finally face a consequence

All for WWE to say "NOPE!" and f*** everyone over, Cody, the fans, and even Roman, because he's quickly circling back around to the heat he used to have, go away heat, where the character they're presenting isn't cool, we just want this shit to end, like it SHOULD HAVE. And it's a shame because Roman really does have something, but WWE has lost the plot, and they keep making it worse and Roman more and more insufferable to have to deal with, especially with no actual end in sight anymore like there should have been on Sunday.

[Snaptastic]

I've been watching on and off for the last couple years since I don't have time to watch consistently anyway.

But I'm at the point where even if he does lose the titles, I just won't care that much.

[Feargus McReddit]

Apr 4, 2023 23:25:55 GMT -5 Chiral said:

‘Man, I can’t wait to see the next chapter.’ is absolutely not what I think for each of these shit finishes

I’ll flat out say it, if you think that way, I can’t see how you can have investment in the characters and them actually do anything. Not even Roman or the Bloodline. They’re just figures that move around towards a storybeat without any real evolution or change to them.

Again, it’s why I left. It’s hard to care about the matches or the storylines if the people in charge aren’t willing to do much with them.

[J is Justice]

Roman's title reign is like Persona 5, which was awesome but 20 hours too long. We're now descending Mementos begging for this shit to end.

[Sephiroth]

There are two technicians named Cody at my job. Bath called out today. I can only assume they are staying home, hiding in disgrace at sharing the name.

[Nosnorb]

Apr 4, 2023 23:31:11 GMT -5 Red Mage Riot said:

Apr 4, 2023 23:12:22 GMT -5 polarbearpete said:

That was one of the reasons given by people before Mania for why Sami should have been given the title match at Mania and not Cody. It was Sami’s story, Cody hasn’t struggled enough or had a long enough journey since coming back to get the title match.

I thought they went the right route with Cody toppling Roman at Mania instead of Sami and I would’ve booked Cody to win Sunday, but that was definitely something that was put out there before all of this happened and not just a post-Mania excuse.

Yeah, I'll own this one. From my perception, Cody's Mania run amounted to "I came back from an injury, title please!" without doing anything to actually make it mean something in the story, and I hated it. It was purely a push based around absence making the heart grow fonder. Sami should have gotten the shot, he put in the work. But now....man, dodged that bullet.

The journey for Cody was from the moment he left WWE, and the struggle was him beating one of the top stars in one of the most brutal match types with a torn pec, then coming back from that injury to win the Royal Rumble.