I'm not flinching

[Johnny]

Yeah, I said it. Even after whatever the hell that was on Smackdown, i'm not flinching. Genuinely.

Cody Rhodes will have Roman's championship by the close of Wrestlemania 40.

I'm drawing a line in the sand. For the few people left who are also not flinching, join me and state it loud and proud in this thread.

For everyone else, after Wrestlemania is done, you can parade this thread through the streets of FAN, point and laugh, throwing your tomatoes and cabbages, at the naive fool/s who still believes that they're going to do right by Cody.

[Gus Richlen Was Wrong]

Count me in.

[Bang Bang Bart]

At this point, the negative backlash will be so immense that they have no choice and Rocky will get his roid-filled candy ass outta here.

[Tea & Crumpets]

As a man once said, It's A Work Brother Jack Dude.
(I've been wrong the last 3 times I said this, 1 up in the air, have to be right eventually)

["Cane Dewey" Johnson]

Feb 3, 2024 6:53:53 GMT -5 Johnny said:

Yeah, I said it. Even after whatever the hell that was on Smackdown, i'm not flinching. Genuinely.

Cody Rhodes will have Roman's championship by the close of Wrestlemania 40.

I'm drawing a line in the sand. For the few people left who are also not flinching, join me and state it loud and proud in this thread.

For everyone else, after Wrestlemania is done, you can parade this thread through the streets of FAN, point and laugh, throwing your tomatoes and cabbages, at the naive fool/s who still believes that they're going to do right by Cody.

So I said this in a thread that got closed in the past 24 hours.

WWE's booking of babyfaces in the past 15-20 years has felt less like "oh my god, yes, yeah, they did it, they won the big one at Wrestlemania!" and more like "ugh, f***ing finally, peas and rice, it wasn't worth all the drama beforehand." And that sucks. And it's not very fun to watch. And it's striking when the iron is stone cold.

Even if Cody beats Roman clean in a 1-on-1 match for the title at Wrestlemania 40, my reaction will be muted because this shit should have been done last year. And I'm still not high on Cody like lots of other folks are.

"Too little, too late" is a bad booking philosophy and a bad storytelling principle, no matter if it's wrestling, movies, TV shows, comics, video games, whatever.

The destination doesn't negate the journey. It's Daniel Bryan 2014 all over again.

[Lizuka #BLM]

Feb 3, 2024 7:43:22 GMT -5 "Cane Dewey" Johnson said:

Feb 3, 2024 6:53:53 GMT -5 Johnny said:

Yeah, I said it. Even after whatever the hell that was on Smackdown, i'm not flinching. Genuinely.

Cody Rhodes will have Roman's championship by the close of Wrestlemania 40.

I'm drawing a line in the sand. For the few people left who are also not flinching, join me and state it loud and proud in this thread.

For everyone else, after Wrestlemania is done, you can parade this thread through the streets of FAN, point and laugh, throwing your tomatoes and cabbages, at the naive fool/s who still believes that they're going to do right by Cody.

So I said this in a thread that got closed in the past 24 hours.

WWE's booking of babyfaces in the past 15-20 years has felt less like "oh my god, yes, yeah, they did it, they won the big one at Wrestlemania!" and more like "ugh, f***ing finally, peas and rice, it wasn't worth all the drama beforehand." And that sucks. And it's not very fun to watch. And it's striking when the iron is stone cold.

Even if Cody beats Roman clean in a 1-on-1 match for the title at Wrestlemania 40, my reaction will be muted because this shit should have been done last year. And I'm still not high on Cody like lots of other folks are.

"Too little, too late" is a bad booking philosophy and a bad storytelling principle, no matter if it's wrestling, movies, TV shows, comics, video games, whatever.

The destination doesn't negate the journey. It's Daniel Bryan 2014 all over again.

The journey to Daniel Bryan in 2014 was f***ing awful though. It was a confused meandering chore of a build that was virtually unwatchable for months with the exceptions of stuff like the Bray cage beatdown (which immediately meant nothing since Bray just kicked his ass and moved on) and the Cena / Orton championship ceremony being completely shit on that they never planned on.

Edit: Reread your comment and saw I was agreeing with you, my mistake.

[HMARK Center]

I only saw a picture of what people are talking about, and I’m still 100% sure they’re doing this to work the crowd.

The crazy thing is I think it’s working, but a lot of that is people who are probably a bit snakebit about WWE’s booking of faces for so many years.

Not saying it’s a good story to do now, I haven’t watched the segment and can’t say for sure either way, but I don’t think for a moment they’re ending WM on anything but Cody beating Roman, especially with the dark clouds over the company since last week.

[Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story]

Feb 3, 2024 8:29:49 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

I only saw a picture of what people are talking about, and I’m still 100% sure they’re doing this to work the crowd.

The crazy thing is I think it’s working, but a lot of that is people who are probably a bit snakebit about WWE’s booking of faces for so many years.

Not saying it’s a good story to do now, I haven’t watched the segment and can’t say for sure either way, but I don’t think for a moment they’re ending WM on anything but Cody beating Roman, especially with the dark clouds over the company since last week.

The idea is the Rock is the distraction from the dark clouds. I don’t think they’re doing anything cute. It’s Rock/Roman. They wouldn’t tease it and not do it.

[HMARK Center]

Feb 3, 2024 8:31:19 GMT -5 Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story said:

Feb 3, 2024 8:29:49 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

I only saw a picture of what people are talking about, and I’m still 100% sure they’re doing this to work the crowd.

The crazy thing is I think it’s working, but a lot of that is people who are probably a bit snakebit about WWE’s booking of faces for so many years.

Not saying it’s a good story to do now, I haven’t watched the segment and can’t say for sure either way, but I don’t think for a moment they’re ending WM on anything but Cody beating Roman, especially with the dark clouds over the company since last week.

The idea is the Rock is the distraction from the dark clouds. I don’t think they’re doing anything cute. It’s Rock/Roman. They wouldn’t tease it and not do it.

Man, that’d be pretty asinine.

[Nosnorb]

They are doing Rock vs Roman in Philly. WWE wouldn't tease that match, then plain up tell everyone that it's happening, then not do it.

[Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story]

Feb 3, 2024 8:35:14 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Feb 3, 2024 8:31:19 GMT -5 Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story said:

The idea is the Rock is the distraction from the dark clouds. I don’t think they’re doing anything cute. It’s Rock/Roman. They wouldn’t tease it and not do it.

Man, that’d be pretty asinine.

If the WWE.com stuff was written differently I’d believe you, but it’s all stuff like “Cody paved the way for the Rock.” They know what they’re doing. Honestly, Cody winning with MITB at this point would be even worse. They made a really bad mistake last night.

[Lizuka #BLM]

Yeah, you don't announce Rock / Roman unless you plan to do it. WWE's just stupid and incompetent, just like they are literally every other time someone says to wait and see.

[schma]

Feb 3, 2024 6:53:53 GMT -5 Johnny said:

Yeah, I said it. Even after whatever the hell that was on Smackdown, i'm not flinching. Genuinely.

Cody Rhodes will have Roman's championship by the close of Wrestlemania 40.

I'm drawing a line in the sand. For the few people left who are also not flinching, join me and state it loud and proud in this thread.

For everyone else, after Wrestlemania is done, you can parade this thread through the streets of FAN, point and laugh, throwing your tomatoes and cabbages, at the naive fool/s who still believes that they're going to do right by Cody.

The vast majority of us flinching aren't happy about it. I highly doubt you'll find anyone parading or laughing or throwing cabbages. By and large the people saying that Cody has been replaced hate it. If we're right, that doesn't make it better. I genuinely hope you're correct and they do the right thing and finish the story. I just have zero faith at this point that they will.

[Ozman]

This can easily be fixed by having Cody win the title in Australia at Elimination Chamber, with Roman vs Rock being non title at WrestleMania. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

[Lizuka #BLM]

Feb 3, 2024 10:43:48 GMT -5 Ozman said:

This can easily be fixed by having Cody win the title in Australia at Elimination Chamber, with Roman vs Rock being non title at WrestleMania. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

They've spent four years making Roman completely goddamn invincible just in case Rock decides to answer their calls. There's no chance whatsoever he's getting pinned a month before the match happens.

And even if they DID do that, it's still throwing Cody under the bus having him get his moment with little build on a B PPV in the middle of the morning to then do f***-all of consequence at the show that actually matters.

[mj0mn0m]

Exactly how I feel if Liv doesn't headline WrestleMania. Understand the feeling.

[Some Baritone guy IS REDEEMED!]

This entire title reign has been one long drawn out story of us as a community saying “there’s no way they’d be dumb enough to…” and then seeing them do the most unimaginably stupid thing they could think of.

It seems odd to tease a main event it’s been publicly known they’ve wanted for years as a fake out.

[clc]

What if they do a reverse WM9.

Roman defeats the Rock by cheating. Cody comes down to check on his best friend the Rock. Paul Heyman makes the challenge to Cody. Cody asks the Rock for permission. Rock says go.

[tafkaga]

Yep, didn't watch it but read about it last night and you can count me in that it's a work.

[Dub H]

I have seen this thread before. it ended up locked