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Hope you're well, I imagine you're about as excited for WM as I am, which is near zero. That said, my expectations are pretty low, so maybe it won't take much to impress me. After watching RAW last night (14 Apri ), how can I not look at Roman Reigns as anything but a total douche? What kind of friend leads a chant against his own friend, encouraging the audience to chant louder? And then winds up shoving him down? He's right back to where he was before, ruling by fear and pouting and acting out because things aren't to his liking. And at this point, why would Heyman be loyal to him at all? He stood up to Solo and got beaten up for it, why wouldn't he just tell Roman to piss off? It's like an abusive relationship; but at some point the sympathy well for Heyman will run dry if he keeps going back for more. Thoughts?
I agree with you 100 percent, on all points. The booking of the three way is just so odd. Rollins is a total dick. Reigns is a total dick. Heyman is being decent and go booed while Rollins and Reigns got cheered. Reigns’ character has been a tool for a while and that’s part of my issue with WWE now. When he lost to Cody, he disappeared. In the storyline, he blew off Heyman. When he finally needed him, he called Heyman and his number was disconnected, showing he hadn’t checked in on his Wise Man in months. That makes him a dick. Yet when he came back, the fans figured he was turning face due to what Solo had done in his absence so they cheered him. The problem was, he never turned face. He is still a dick most of the time and always when things don’t go his way. He’s a heel, but he is cheered. Look at Rollins. He is a total dick, but the fans love to sing his song so they cheer him too. WWE had been so good at creating characters that almost always resonated with fans and thus got the desired reactions. Now? It’s a free for all. In this scenario CM Punk is the only real babyface of the three and he will probably get the most cheers, but the whole scenario is just so baked at this point. Part of it is due to WWE forcing Punk into a feud that should have been Rollins vs. Reigns to settle their years old issues. But, HHH decided to put Punk in there so now it’s just an odd dynamic. The sad thing is, all four people involved are great and if they weren’t shoehorned into this mess they could be shining but instead they are part of the reason that after two years of amazingly hot builds to Mania, this show is tepid at best to me.
And it’s not just this match either. Why should anyone root for Rhea Ripley? Bianca Belair wins the right to face Rhea or Iyo and Rhea gets distracted by Bianca doing nothing wrong and she loses her title. She whined about it for weeks. She wanted a rematch. Then Adam Pearce tells us he was trying to get her to take the rematch for three weeks now and she wouldn’t commit to it! WHAT THE FiretrUCK? Then Rhea gets it and she can’t control herself and causes a double DQ and keeps whining. She should be a heel, like Roman and Seth, but the fans love her (as do I) and cheer for her despite her actions like in the segment on Raw. To make matters worse, all of her bad behavior leads to her getting forced into the match, which she doesn’t deserve, and screws Bianca who has done NOTHING WRONG and now sees her odds weaken to win the Title. Bianca should be pissed that she got screwed but like a dope, she’s fine with it. WHAT?
And, don’t get me started on what they did to Jey Uso, John Cena and Cody Rhodes because I could go on for a while. The booking leading into Mania has largely been terrible and it’s a damn shame. The talent all deserves better. This feels like the Vince days where the talents will have to make up for really blah booking.
What are the odds that Randy Orton's WM41 opponent would be the returning Aleister Black? Or would that be a waste of a return just to feed him to Orton?
Two months ago, when WWE’s booking was on fire, I would have said zero. Now? I will say almost zero. That would be hotshot city and they already have a ready-to-go match with Solo, in some incarnation, set up for Orton. That makes way more sense.
What happens with the retirement tour if Cena gets injured? Will it resume when he recovers from said injury?
Great question. I don’t have the answer! I hope we don’t have to find out.
Not a criticism because I agree with you, and I'd be a hypocrite to pretend I wasn't 100% ECW back in the day. But, how do you see this tactic (in the question where Swerve shot on Booker T off air) by AEW really being anything other than a way to stir the pot, the way Shane Douglas did with his "Dick Flair" schtick or Cactus Jack spitting on the WCW tag title? Isn't "forbidden door" heat still decent heat? Has it gone the way of the communist or effeminate heel? Am I out of touch now? Thanks for all you do. Love your work back to the 1wrestling days. Us older guys who know what RSPW means have to stick together!
The main difference to me is that ECW was a barely regional product back then, running in a bingo hall with limited exposure. They were a legitimate underdog just trying to get noticed. It’s more understandable to me to go after the bigger fish because any attention is good attention. With Cactus and AEW, we are talking about mega-companies that have huge money behind them and exposure on National TV so to me, it’s really stupid and childish to act like children. That’s the difference in my view.
In the last couple weeks, I know Rey Fenix's matches against Nathan Frazer and Berto were meant to show of Rey's talents and give him some wins. However what I hear people talking about online is how impressed they were with both Frazer and Berto. Do you think this is something WWE noticed? And is there any chance they will get a push from it? I think both are very worthy of a more high-profile singles run.
They both have a ton of potential, no doubt. My take on it was more that they made Fenix look like a moves guy rather than special, like his brother. To be fair, Penta is the better overall worker, but I agree with what you are saying. WWE put those two in with someone who was supposed to be a big new thing and it ended up that they all looked like peers. I wouldn’t have debuted him that way.
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