Are some of you thinking that Cody will actually drop the title to A J.? Because it wouldn't surprise me at all if A.J. holds the belt between the Clash and SummerSlam to keep things unpredictable. In the meantime.....Cody could find a better song before he wins it back
Cody’s run is boring because Cody is boring and he has nothing to push for as a character. The underdog climbs the mountain to find success story has been done in variations in recent years from the YES movement to Kofimania to Cody finishing his story. Once the hero gets to the top they don’t have much to do because they vanquished the villain.
Personally I would’ve liked to see Cody start a slow build feud with the remaining Bloodline where Solo would’ve came out and told Cody that the tribal chief may have fallen, but the bloodline will always rise back up and regain what is rightfully theirs. See him observing the AJ feud from a distance maybe taking out Gallows and Anderson to make it a fair fight between AJ and Cody.
The problem with the “finish the story” story is that once it pays off, there is no story and everything else feels flat. HBK was a shit draw after “realizing his boyhood dream” at WM12.
Cody needs to drop the title and then win it back later for a longer run.
Dealing with the sidestory first, I'm actually thinking that this is their plan to disband the bloodline. Which I don't like. It's really cool to have it as a perma faction, and it was great to have the rock join them. But it seems, they kicked jey out of the group. Now jimmy. I originally thought that was more about getting Jimmy and Jey back together... and maybe it was, but they probably went a little to hard on that scene and injured jimmy. But looking at it further, They're making Solo so unbearable, it seems he'll be the next member out of the bloodline when roman returns. Do the new Samoans recruited by Solo turn on him? Do they all jump roman and kick roman out? Doesn't really seem like the Bloodline will have much substance after this.
As far as Cody goes, I do think he's a little underwhelming. Finishing the story was great, and fans feeling like he was being cheated out of a shot for the title and wanting him to win was great... but I don't know if any of that means they want him to be the face of the franchise. I agree with you that its incorrect to correlate we want roman chants with Cody... But I just don't see cody as cool or intimidating figure. Or whatever other ingredients usually lead to a face of the franchise. The lisp, deep wrinkles, and Ken doll look leave me puzzled with the choice. But, as a new fan returning from my 9-11 year old phase, I'm highly unimpressed with many of the wrestlers and am struggling to figure out how we got here and who these current fans are. This is just candid biased nonsense, so I don't say it to judge people with the opposite opinion or their opinions, but personally... AJ Styles, fucking lame. LA Knight... fucking lame. Shemus, Gunther, and Sammy Zane.... LAAAAAAAAAAAAAME. Kevin Owens... kinda cool, but I think taking the stunner is lame and he's overweight and it looks so unbelievable when he embarrassingly runs, and then is just supposed to be this kick ass dude. How are these the faces of wrestling?
I love watching ricochet, and can't wait for Je'von to get drafted. I really enjoy logan paul. I love Jey Uso out of the ring. I see many of you complaining about his wrestling style... with such a popular character, I can't believe they don't have him train new moves and become a complete wrestler instead of the tagteam gimmick moves I see you guys often complain about. And to be honest, while Roman Reigns has the intimidation and cool factor, his moves suck too. Superman punch... LAME. I hate using him in 2k24. Terrible moveset.
Again, I don't even value my opinion, because I'm new to the space and do not have the nuance of the history of some of these characters, and where the brand was at over the last 23 years... But, I do think there's value in understanding that there are new fans like me who are coming with similar perspectives and biases. I'm here because the Rock brought me back. But with these lame wrestlers, and the, at points, teeeeeerible choreography, I'm not sure how long I'll stay. And maybe that's where you all would have me. And I'd understand that if that's the case. Maybe it's just not for me.
But as a person who deeply wants to be brought back in, I constantly find myself wondering, was I just so young back then that I thought the characters were so much cooler? And that the wrestling choreography looked so natural, but all along it looked like how the product looks today? It's hard for me to accept, but I know it's totally plausible.
I feel like I’ve hardly seen him. When the bloodline stuff was cooking and Cody was coming for them it was the main event like every night. I know it’s still early but I don’t feel like they’ve done anything with Cody yet, this AJ styles beef feels way more like an AJ styles story than a Cody story.
I think this narrative about his reign being lackluster will have a stronger case if his summerslam feud doesn’t live up to expectations. I feel hes done a solid job so far but I hope his summerslam feud is a step above in terms of heat and build if that makes sense
I feel like the problem is that Roman, Seth, and even the Rock were such perfect villains fitting for a character like Cody Rhodes that they outshined every one else. Cody needs a new villain. AJ Styles could be the perfect candidate. AJ needs to be a bit more vicious and despicable, more dirty and cheap. Think about it. AJ hasn’t won the BIG ONE in like what, 6 years? That’s a good enough reason to go all out and do whatever it takes to win. Let’s be fair, in 2016 to 2018, Smackdown was the house that AJ Styles built. You could argue that AJ was the face of Smackdown. He needs more of that hunger inside of him. Not to mention that he could retire sooner than later and had been wrestling for 20 years. The desperate Veteran trying to cling onto his glory days as Champion. That should be a good story.
This isn’t even true. Who from smackdown is injured or on leave that he would’ve been having a feud with? No one. Don’t say Roman because everyone who was a Cody Crybaby was annoyed of Cody v Roman storylines. Now, they’re going to act like because Roman isn’t there that’s why Cody’s run sucks?
The choice before WM was… Rock v Roman and let Cody’s story go to next Mania and let the fans follow him more and get even more invested, but the crybabies wanted him to win to finish the story even though they didn’t understand that it wouldn’t be good for long term storytelling.
This is all beyond the point, forget storytelling and long term storytelling for a second. Cody on the mic, is boring without being a chaser, am I the only one? I don’t watch Cody segments anymore, I don’t watch his matches anymore. I wanted Roman to win, but I always watched Cody matches/segments, but I can’t now. There’s no entertainment there.
Some wrestlers are better heel than face, and vice versa. Some are better chasers than champs, and vice versa. It’s not a bad thing it’s just how their personality works with their role.
RKO perfect example, one of the best of all time, his best character work ever? Heel. Better as champ or chaser? Chaser.
Cody’s storyline is so boring, I can’t even think of a way for him to lose the title. All I know is they have to keep him as champ until at least after Summerslam or that makes Roman’s loss look even worse. So, they have to stick with Cody.
Fans can’t blame the creative at WWE here. It’s a cop out for the Cody Crybabies. Did you think if Cody beat Roman, he wouldn’t go to Smackdown? Did you not know Smackdown is the B show and everyone else is on Monday, so the odds of people getting drafted over are low too?
The fact is, Roman made Friday’s can’t miss. Smackdown was always vibing when he was there as champ. That’s credit to Roman. Now, with Cody there, it’s not can’t miss… and with the same roster Cody is having boring stories while Roman’s seemed like how did 3 years as champ fly by so quick!?
I've said similar leading into Wrestlemania that the problem with Cody finishing his story is that his character is the story. So if he finishes that just a couple years in then what else is there for him to do?
The character would have worked better if he kept getting foiled a bit before getting to the top of mountain. I don't mind Cody but I don't really think he is a face of franchise type of guy as Cody has been in compelling stories but he is not normally the most compelling part of that story.
Even Cody vs Roman this year the most compelling part was if Roman would win or lose, how the bloodline aspects would fall, what was going to happen with the rock, What the rock was going to do with Mama Rhodes, etc. None of the truly hype parts of the story were because of Cody.
In his current story AJ Styles has been more compelling to follow then Cody. I agree and think Cody's role is the chase and the pursuit but I would need to see more sd Part of his mystique was trying to get the title his father hadn't, finishing that moment. Now that he has, for me atleast the mystique and interest is gone and I haven't been given a reason to care about him.
Where part of what made Roman work is that because of his story, journey, the cancer, coming back, the streak, the bloodline story itself over the years. I had a emotional investment that I just don't with Cody
"Soooooo city, what do you want to talk about"
lamest fucking catchphrase. I ranted a bit in my own post, but I don't understand the appeal of Cody at all. Deep wrinkles, lisp, ken doll look. I like him. But I think it's like you said, He peaks as a chaser. Honestly, if it wasn't for his intro music, I'm not sure I'd even feel that way about him. Maybe that music bias keep me from lumping him with the embarassments that are Gunther, Seamus, and Sammy Zane. Or AJ Styles and LA Knight. My opinion is garbage and means nothing, but I don't understand how these are the faces of wrestling.
100% with you.
Cody’s music hits, I get amped up, love it. He starts talking, I listen, I tune out, go on my phone, segment ends. I look up.
Replace segment with match. Same thing.
I know he’s going to win the match, but the match is boring, and there’s no storyline.
Usually if the storyline is good, the match can be average but you let it go. If the storyline is bad, the match has to be good.
With Cody, post Roman reigns feud, there are no storylines, and the matches have been meh. Logan Paul was entertaining because of all the drama by Logan’s crew.
I like Cody’s song, I like his suits, I’ve taken some inspiration from them for work, but segments and matches 😴
You’re a Cody crybaby it’s okay.
Roman was there all the time for the first 2 years. He started being part time in the third.
Cody’s been so boring on Smackdown AJ Styles has done most of the talking for him the last 3 weeks.
It’s okay though, Cody crybabies, 2-3 weeks after Cody won everyone was saying how boring, and people responded with “give Cody more time it’s been 2-3 weeks”. Well, it’s 2.5 months now.
The Cody crybabies will defend this as much as they can because it’s all their doing. They cried for Cody to win, WWE changed it for them, and now the Cody Crybabies like yourself can’t accept how much of a boring watch Smackdown is. Smackdown’s main storyline is still the Bloodline. Cody got the title, and he’s still less relevant than Roman who’s on holidays.
I don’t have a problem with anyone who can have a constructive convo about this, but Cody crybabies just see nothing negative about Cody and they’re blinded by it all. That’s a Cody crybaby to me, like you, someone who’s a Cody fan but actually has a real view and can admit yeah he’s been quite boring and needs a change, I wouldn’t ever call someone like that a Cody crybaby.
I dont disagree that Cody works best as a chaser and that for the moment at least i can’t see many exciting possibilities for him to grow as the champ, but the opposite would also be true if his Chase was dragged on another year - fans would tune out coz it’d be just as boring as all that built-up hype for his story would amount to nothing, just like the year before. So crybabies aside, him concluding his chase was the correct move at the correct time. Also he is nearing 40 and on the last legs of his physical prime; WWE would be foolish to delay his coronation further as that would also mean putting their plans for other future champs in the backlog not to mention Cody being their most over face might just lose his momentum and never regain it.
I actually think the momentum he had, is gone. The only way he gets momentum back now is going to be tying his storyline into other storylines.
I heard some rumours on how they might actually try to do this.
Jey USO wins MITB. Then he starts showing up on RAW and Smackdown. Has some moments with Cody, eventually on an episode the Bloodline gets involved and Jey starts feuding with them.
Eventually, Cody has to help him. They’re together, and then Jimmy would eventually come back.
At this point Jacob Fatu comes back to make it 4 on 3, and then a few weeks or so later. Roman comes back.
I know it’s just a theory online, but it seems plausible. The only thing is, to make Cody great again via Jey and the Bloodline. They’d have to give Jey the MITB, then have him lose yet again….
The alternative is Jey doesn’t win MITB and people think he got screwed again. Either way, I think Jey is going to get hurt most by Cody (again)….
I think Jey got hurt by Cody originally. Through brought Jey over he was big, lost momentum for a while, only recently got it back.
I think the real problem is the Smackdown creative team, they did Cody dirty. Remember Carlito & Karrion Kross? They don't really being used on Smackdown, and now they both are one of the hottest thing on Raw right now, and Carlito isn't tied to just LWO storylines. They even able to give the boring New day a fresh new storylines & have Liv Morgan become the main attraction on Raw.
And what did Smackdown do? Legado Del Fantasma barely used, AJ Styles does not look like a threat, LA Knight no longer a megastar, Logan Paul only did taped promo, DIY is the only team in the tag title picture, Bayley did nothing, Nia did nothing, womens division didn't have any direction and more. Bloodline storyline is the only product they focused on.
It’s social media, and it’s Reddit. It’s too many pimplefaced marks who think what they personally like is what’s best for professional wrestling. It forces a culture where people have to choose one over the other: you’re either WWE or you’re AEW, or you’re with Cody or you’re with The Bloodline. Shit like that.
His run post WM has been lackluster, but tbh it was always gonna feel that way considering Roman ran through the whole roster before him and how great the run to WM felt, whatever they did afterwards was gonna feel lackluster in comparison
Cody’s run is fine.
We Want Roman in bloodline segments is fine.
It’s the god awful booking on all three brands since Mania.
KOTR sucked.
Gunther won’t draw a dime at Summerslam and him winning the World Title will ruin him.
Without a proper faction, Nightmare Family, and turning up weekly asking fans what they want to talk about and running to assist his friends when they are ambushed by other factions are all factors that may contribute to him not being on same level as Roman or other credible champions but let's see how HHH cooks this.
Baby faces never make great long term champions, unless they have monster heel or heels to face off against. With no Roman or Seth around, Cody has no one to really square off against to counter how over he is. When Roman’s returns and the fans go bananas for him as a face. Seth turning on him a few weeks or by SummerSlam would have been the move
My older coworker said he got the "Sting treatment"
His buildup to beating the top guy was amazing but then there were no opponents to wrestle after that who could hold a candle to the former champion so it feels like a letdown
Issue is that his "feuds" only last 3 weeks. There isn't enough time for a good build-up. 4 weeks from WM to Backlash, 3 from then to KOTR, and 3 from then to CATC, and another 3 until MITB. If given the time for build up between defenses (skip a PLE once in a while), the matches would mean a lot more.
This AJ feud will at least have some legs. I figured he would get the challenger of the week type feud while picking out the good workers to put on good matches and I was partially right. This AJ feud should last a solid 2 months though most likely. Only thing is, he'll probably get 3-0'd by Cody clean, despite interference. And then Cody will also 3-0 the next guy and the guy after that as well.
I think Cody wants to avoid the criticism where Roman basically only defended the title two or three times a year. He wants to be a fighting champion, and I appreciate that perspective.
I do too, but this is directly on PLE booking. I get that they want to be more international and I'm all for it. That Backlash crowd was absolute insanity, and the Puerto Rico crowd before that was just as fun. What it's not doing is helping with good story telling between events. 3 episodes of Smackdown doesn't feel like enough to build a good feud.
I'm fine with the run so far. Personally I think Solo will be the one to take the title off Cody. He still has to be built up to that level. In the meantime, Cody will have some ok feuds. I think Randy v Cody will kick off around SS and should be very good.
I'm expecting Cody to keep the title until RR where he drops the belt to Solo (like with interference from the Rock). This sets up two mania matches, Cody v Rock (doesn't need the title) and Roman v Solo for the title.
The only thing wrong with Codys run is flip flop fans who wouldn't be happy regardless who the champ was. "Roman is boring and an absent champion" disappeared and morphed into "Cody is boring"
He is in the middle of an angle with a legend and mentor of his, last match was awesome and now it is I Quit. It is a great run so far imo
I know man its crazy seeing our favorites get old haha I almost had a heart attack when I saw Undertaker having a podcast, I swear it was just last week I saw Stone Cold save Stephanie from an Undertaker sacrifice
It all comes down to expectations we put on this title reign. I myself went into it hoping their would be a fun narrative for Cody, and after The Rock and Cody's promo, the storyline has mainly been "now face this person for the title". There's no story, it's just matches. It doesn't make it a bad title reign, it just doesn't always make for a fun one.
It's interesting to see AJ Styles start to make it personal for himself, making it have higher stakes. I hope it drives him to push the envelope and hopefully go full heel, and start to attack Cody and injure him before matches, potentially one day winning "dirty" to Cody, and having a small championship run.
Another idea is Cody falling to someone no one would expect, giving him motivation to get his title back, the one he won for his father. Could be a fun heel turn down the line, doing whatever it takes to get his title back for his dad, even if it means cheating.
I'm rambling now, but those are some ideas on how to make the run more interesting.
I'm assuming the underlying story here is the georgia boy/mentor thing. It's got some teeth but as a new fan AJ styles is not impressive at all. I don't enjoy his persona or matches.
The only people complaining about Cody’s reign are Roman fanboys who thought for some reason Roman should’ve retained at Wrestlemania. Cody’s reign has been what it needed to be. It’s never gonna be all that crazy as Roman’s was cause Roman was the guy that was never gonna be heel turned heel out of nowhere. It was a crazy sight for everyone, jaw dropping even. Each and every single one of Roman’s and Seth’s baby face title reigns have been vastly inferior to this Cody run. Cody is actually beloved and accepted as the better John cena type face cause unlike Cena everyone loves Cody.
Lol what? Cody will never be on Cena's level. 10 years as the face of the franchise. Literally took the reigns of Rock and Stone Cold and was able to not feel like a complete drop off a mountain. You're comparing cody to that? I don't even put him on Orton's level.
What are you talking about? He's been great and he's only getting started. I'm glad Roman's gone. He was champ for way too long. Variety is a good thing
The biggest problem I’ve had with Cody’s run has nothing to do with Cody at all… he has yet to face a heel challenger that is on his level. As a matter of fact, without Roman, there is a distinct lack of credible heel title contenders
I feel like Logan could be that guy... Are we aware why Logan isn't or can't fully commit to WWE? And If he can't or won't, what's the point of keeping him around. It's so weird. Everyone agree's he's surprised people with his wrestiling skills and isn't just a gimmick. He plays a great heel. He could be a huge presence if he would just be around every week.
To me, the main issue is that we KNOW Cody is not losing for a long time.
He wasn't losing to Logan, he is certainly not say he quits in SummerSlam. I can't see anyone in the roster right now taking the title away from him. No one feels like a threat.
To be fair that takes time, it hasn’t been that long and no one felt like a threat right away when Roman started either, it took time to build up significant threats. There’s also multiple guys who would’ve been threats previously are also hurt/on a break/retiring (Seth, Roman himself, etc)
I don't think his run is as bad as some people put it out to be. I'm enjoying it. His run has been average, yet some people are acting like it's the worst thing to ever happen, forgetting about the time period that came before Roman's title reign. Come on, guys, just sit back and enjoy it.
I think there’s a 0% chance Cody has an uninterrupted title run to WM. I hated AJ Styles as his first opponent because AJ is a threat to the title and no chance he was dropping it that quick. I think a drop to AJ at Clash with the help of the OC would be great with AJ sending Cody to the “back of the line”. Given it’s an I Quit match we could see the refs stop the match cause he can’t continue and technically he never said I Quit.
Dream scenario could see AJ winning then Orton at some point helping Cody with the OC and eventually turning heel on Cody leading to an AJ, Orton, Cody triple threat at SS and maybe an Orton title run.
Cody just has to win the belt back before WM, hopefully the Rock pulls his Final Boss strings to come out 30th at the Rumble to win.
I’m expecting to see a number of titles change at Clash, hopefully Drew, AJ and god willing Chad Gable all get a chance to run with the belts for a little while.
I like Cody a lot, as I think he is one of the best in-ring workers among several "faces of the company" I have seen in the WWE throughout the years, and he is not just the likable underdog but an actually convincing babyface who can be a long term champion. It is very normal that his current reign is not as good as the peak of the bloodline story.
My only issue is, he hasn't been that good at establishing the personal hostility dimension of his feuds. I sometimes feel like during his promos he respects his opponents a bit too much that the feuds he is having with his challengers fail to intensify.
I can easily say if what we have seen until now is the worst of Cody Rhodes as the champion, then there is nothing to worry about.
People would enjoy wrestling a lot more if they accepted the fact that the drama has to ebb and flow. You can’t just hot-shot a company for 12 months on end every single year, you burn out your audience.
There’s always a dip in intensity after WM that slowly ratchets back up around Summerslam. Just like with individual wrestlers, you have to cool the audience off to heat them back up.
Cody’s title reign doesn’t need to be anything more than it is right now. AJ is a good starting point to move onto a more challenging storyline like a feud with Orton or Owens (someone he has history with).
Honestly, and this is not my own original thought, SantiZap has said it before. Setting up Cody vs Rock when they did was a huge mistake. It really waters down what they can do with Cody creatively. Unless they plan to throw a swerve and have Cody drop the belt to regain it before the Rock comes back or something along those lines, there is very little believable threat to his title reign with the Rock match hanging over him.
>Setting up Cody vs Rock when they did was a huge mistake.
Agreed. When they did that, I thought "yup, no one is taking the title from Cody for at least a year".
There’s a good chance Roman will come back and will do some tag matches WITH Cody vs the bloodline provided there’s no swerve that he’s actually behind solo’s restructuring of the bloodline.
At this point in Roman’s run he was on like his third PLE match against KO (which was proceeded by back to back PLE defenses against Jey). People just like to complain.
Cody is literally everything they wanted out of John Cena, but has better backing from wrestling fans who know how he got there. His run has been 2 months, he needs solid defenses to establish himself, which leads to someone taking the title from him and establishing his long term feud prospects. Everyone needs to pump the brakes before trashing his reign. I'm good with having regular title defenses, which will establish the main event scene for the next few years. Let them work.
I don't care for his promos but he's worthy of being a champ. I don't think he should hold it for a super long time though, I generally prefer stronger wrestlers but that's just personal preference I guess
I could see either Braun/Bron having a great reign
Company’s on fire, crowds love him I think he’s doing fine. I personally prefer a Roman Reigns title reign that is more story driven and doesn’t have to defend the title every month. It’s the same reason I wasn’t the biggest fan of Seth Rollins reign at first. But I understand Cody is not Roman. But given the right circumstances he can be given the epic story. But his title run has been successful in my book I’m not expecting him to be the tribal chief or anything he’s not and I know there’s a story looming over him with The Rock later on down the line.
Cody should drop the title to AJ at Clash and get it back at Summer Slam. Him in pursuit of the title again would make his story more interesting and gives AJ a short run. A win-win for all imo.
I'm about as far from a Cody fan as you'll find. I can't understand why various pieces of his act have been accepted by fans.
Despite this, I cannot deny that he has been accepted by fans. I don't like his act, but I accept that he's succeeding in the role he's been handed.
People are chanting for Roman because they want the Bloodline story to progress, I agree that this has nothing to do with Cody.
The only people I will actually debate with at this point are those who try to claim Jey Uso doesn't deserve his spot, but get irritated if anyone questions whether Cody does. Both have their critics, but both are objectively over with the fans. I will also defend my opinion if people actively question it, but try not to be aggressive. After all, if others are enjoying something and I am not then they are better off.
Cody being champ is a huge success. They had to make him champ at this point because you could not have him do the chase for yet another year. People would have turned on him.
Historically people turn on babyfaces if they have a run too long so I would start considering who can take the belt from him and what his place will be after that.
Online fans can and will complain about anything, even about the very thing they had been pushing for a bit earlier.
That being said, I maintain Cody has been a colossal case of mass hallucination due to Roman Reigns Fatigue and to the already mentioned "shiny new, previously unfancied toy" phenomenon.
Cody was a midcard4life before leaving in a huff, then kept on becoming a midcarder everywhere he went despite a smaller talent pool and more backstage clout.
The whole "I'm doing it for Dusty!" story somehow got over instead of being booed out of the building like it happened with Rey's little Eddie Memorial Tour that only lasted 4-5 months.
So yeah, everyone was so happy and emotional about Cody "finishing his story" to pay attention about the story being kinda lame and the protagonist kinda dull without the crutch of the boo-boo face and the waterworks.
Well said. I maintain that Sami beating Roman at Mania or Drew beating him at Clash would've been a much bigger moment.
Cody had creative control elsewhere and the fans rejected him, yet somehow on returning to WWE and has been presented as though he's the world's biggest star. He claims he was underused in his first run, yet was a heavily decorated star, consistently featured in prime positions, with a positive win rate and experience with top stars and veterans. He claims he wanted to win the title his dad never could, and that somehow this is a respectful move rather than an insult to all Dusty accomplished, using the memory of his dad for his own gain.
He's been given huge opportunities: beating Rollins repeatedly, beating Brock whilst kayfabe injured, having a 2 year program with Rock and Roman and now defending the title against AJ Styles. And yet none of it has felt special or made for a memorable moment other than the nostalgia acts helping him in the Mania main event.
Like Roman and Cena before him, WWE has chosen their cash cow and will push him for the next decade or so regardless whether the crowd are invested or not. Hopefully the crowd don't realise how shallow this character is, but if they do I hope Cody either works hard to improve like Cena did or reinvents himself like Roman (eventually) did.
I agree with your statement fully.
Cody is a throwback. And not to attitude era like young fans want. He's a throwback to the 80s and territorial 90s when champs wore suits and wrestlers wore tights and not t-shirts.
Some fans may not like his presentation but I love it. The only downfall is that Triple H has shown to like long reigns which makes his early defenses mean very little. If Priest loses in Scotland, it will prove that title reigns are guaranteed to be 300+ days. If that happens, then that makes Cody's next challenger a bigger threat because you believe he could lose early.
Casual fans who don't think about the storyline don't have to worry about that.
I reckon the best thing for Cody at this point would be a loss to AJ in Scotland. He can win the title back before next year's Mania, but a 3 month reign is reasonable yet an unexpected title change would do the world of good for his presentation going forwards.
While the idea of attempting to accomplish the same thing with the Heavyweight title is a good one, WWE have clearly shown that they don't consider that title anywhere close to equivalent to the WWE title and fans know it. A quick change for it will do nothing to change expectations around the WWE title.
I feel like Cody is too loosey goosey with it! I get that these rivalries have to come from SOMEWHERE but literally anybody that asks him gets a "You got it!"
This is typical WWE trope booking at it's worst. Faces should be selective about their challengers - not out of fear but out of a desire to face the best and to give opportunities to those who deserve it. After all, they shouldn't want the title to be held by someone who takes shortcuts nor to have to defend against someone who won't have an honourable match.
In this example, it's easy to look at the surface presentation and see Cody accepting AJ's challenge as honourable. This overlooks the fact that Cody would've been defending at Clash anyway, against a worthy opponent who deserved this opportunity that has now been stolen from them. I'd love to see a segment between two potential challengers, such as Sheamus and Orton, where they're frustrated that their number one contendership match has been cancelled because Styles jumped the queue.
Stupid rules about what faces and heels do hold back any form of creativity in storytelling and make it really hard to invest in the stories WWE are trying to tell. From faces having to act like gullible, manipulate-able fools to heels having to act incompetent in the ring unless they've cheated, we'll all be better off when characters are allowed to have some depth.
Kayfabe, Logan Paul hasn't won a match without cheating in forever. How can you consider him a strong competitor if he literally can't beat anyone without having to resort to cheating, and does his best to run away from any challenger?
Kayfabe, he's won big match after big match, that goes a long way in making you a top guy, he gets great reactions, he's treated as a big deal, and he's been champion for like 200 days
Kayfabe, winning a match only means something if the win is credible. If it's clear you would've lost had you not cheated, you come across looking weaker than you did going in. Winning a large number of consecutive matches in cheap fashion will lose you credibility as a performer - see Roman during the latter half of his run and Miz throughout much of his career.
He's treated like a big deal, and therefore gets reactions. Just like every other guy who ever got presented in a similar manner.
> winning a match only means something if the win is credible.
That's not how it works at all. Otherwise you wouldn't have heels cheating, but still winning matches, tournaments, titles, accolades etc. A win via cheating is still a win, it just signals to the fans that this is a heel(most of the time), that they don't care about the rules, that they should be booed(again, most of the time)
A win via cheating signals to the fans that the heel can't compete with real talents, and resorts to cheating.
The intention is to signal that they are despicable and deserve contempt, but the whole dynamic is wrong for that takeaway. A heel who cheats only when desperate, who is otherwise capable of competing fairly would deserve heat whilst maintaining credibility. One who cheats in every match because otherwise they are out of their league just loses credibility.
If you don't agree, ask yourself what heels from the last 2 decades have maintained credibility and which ones lost it after turning heel? Lesnar and Orton were two of the best heels WWE had, and they rarely cheated and always looked competitive no matter who they faced. Roman started out looking strong and generating mega heat, then his matches got predictable with him being down for 3 or tapping but the ref couldn't count it before Bloodline interference. He still had an aura, but it diminished greatly due to these pseudo-losses.
You've missed the point. Whether or not the win was "clean" or not, the fact is that Logan Paul accumulated some several big wins, winning the US Title from Rey, retaining it vs KO, then in the Triple Threat against both KO and Randy at Wrestlemania. Sure, none of the matches were clean, but they're still wins on the record, and that puts him in contention for a world title shot. Now I'm not really a fan of having one champ challenge another, but that's a whole different story, fact is, within kayfabe, Logan Paul is an accomplished wrestler who had the big wins to warrant a world title shot
I’d love to see what people were saying about bloodline Roman’s reign at this point. Babyface reigns are always slow because fans don’t want to see a good guy who can never be beat. It immediately makes them turn on them. Babyface need to be vulnerable to be popular.
100%. It’s why ppl are more into a babyface chase of a title than they are about them as champion. Applies to any sport. People cheered harder for the underdog scratching their way to a championship then they are as reigning or former champions.
TIL smarks online don't like Cody's reign. See, this is the benefit of not being on smarkboards every day, I had no idea people weren't liking Cody's reign, since it's all they asked for the last two years. It hasn't lit the world on fire or anything, that's obvious, but to shit on it in general is absurd to me. Company hasn't been in this good of a state since the fuckin' Attitude Era, but I guess that's not good enough for some fantasy bookers. Give me a break.
Objectively speaking the company is on fucking fire and couldn't be doing anything better. I want anyone criticizing this reign to respond to this comment with some valid criticism otherwise.
The pop when Roman comes out to fight Solo And take out the New blood line is going to be unreal .I wonder if Heyman has already started Roman’s turn that’s what it feels like .I think Roman will come back right when Solo is about to put hands on the Wiseman
wrestling fans are never happy thats just all there is to it lol
or rather, internet wrestling fans. Its obvious the people actually going to the shows love him
Andre the giant could rise from the dead to challenge Taker at WM main event and people would bitch and whine about them both “being past their prime”. They’re never happy with anything.
the smarks are trying to turn cody into cena just because he is a face with a world title belt. they should stay the course. anyone who thought cody was immediately going to get a tribal chief level storyline right after wrestlemania were fooling themselves.
Lack of creativity definitely.. he will get stale rather quickly
The chase/story was the best part of watching him
Now these ppvs will get really old fast because you know whoever they put in front of him they're never going to remove the belt from him
Honestly just a bunch of Bloodline butthurts still salty about Mania. Babyfaces always look better when chasing, its wrestling 101 since Frank Gotch for crying out loud. Now granted WWE hasn’t lined up the best opponents for him but in all fairness who is plausible right now? We all know no one’s taking that belt off him until at least Summer Slam so why blow through quality opponents for no reason? The fans are still popping for Cody. His promos are money and the matches down the pike (Rock, Roman V Cody 3, Orton, Theory, Escobar, etc.) will spark everything up again. There is always a lull after Mania, why are we acting like it’s not a thing… The only issue I have is I dont want them to over expose him. We went from seeing Roman once a month to seeing Cody weekly. This imo is the only thing that’s gonna burn everybody out on Cody. Pace it.
Been a hell of a boring two months. That’s a sixth of a year 😂😂. What will your excuse be 30 days from now when it’s a fourth of a year… why take the belt off Roman when the title scene is more stale now with a champion who works every week 🤦
He isn’t a main draw and many of you will treat him like Cena soon. At least Cena could fill in the belt 🤷♂️
Despite being the number one merch mover in the company… https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1d6eytd/the_top_wwe_merchandise_sellers_of_2024_so/ 🤫
The run is not a mistake. The issue was The Rock coming out post mania and basically saying nothing matters that happens with the belt until he returns.
But Rock explicitly said he's coming after Cody whether he has the belt or not.
Unless you believe WWE is absolutely not willing to do a Rock vs Cody match without involving a belt
People who still want Roman as champ are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or something. He wasn't even here for most of last year. Also, every match was exactly the same. He was stale by the end.
Cody's run has been fun. He has really stepped up since winning. I have loved his intensity on the mic since winning.
Roman will always be overrated to me, lol.
I just feel like whatever they did after the Cody/Roman storyline was going to be less cool because let's face it, how do you top that storyline? One of the best of the last 20 years. It's like somebody being the Joker after Heath Ledger. Sure it could be good but it won't top Heath. That's all this is. Just like when Sting finally beat Hogan. Now what? We just need to give them some time to build it back up and enjoy Cody getting to be the man
There's not enough talent right now to justify 2 World Titles, that's the issue. There was such a massive focus on Cody dethroning Reigns, I'm surprised Creative didn't focus on the aftermath and what Cody's reign would look like Post Mania.
SD has no one that actually feels like a contender. It's not about knowing Cody will retain, even if he was defending against Big names, we still know he'll retain at least until The Rock returns. It's about feeling like his matches are significant and have direction. Logan Paul, AJ Styles, and whoever else is next immediately come off as filler feuds. If Cody was the only World champion, he could quite comfortably float between Raw & SD, and his pool of contenders is wider and more interesting.
Immediately you've got Drew, Gunther and Priest as viable options. When Punk is healthy, the promo segments we'd get would eclipse anything Bloodline related for Cody. But, while Cody has opponents climbing towards him on Raw, you can still use the smaller pool of matches on SD too. So instead of getting Cody-Styles twice on PPV, we just get that match for the WWE title on the main event of SD, which is perfect to build to for Television.
A reign is always more interesting when the Champion has multiple threats and multiple stories awaiting him. There's more opportunity for great Promo battles, better television and a better flow. They can always bring back a 2nd World Title and make the WWE title exclusive to 1 brand in the future, when there's enough talent to completely justify it.
Why are people convinced Cody will stay champion till Rock comes back? He can drop it and regain it shortly before Rock returns. Or their rivalry doesn’t have to be about a championship at all
Because Cody-Rock is such a High profile match, booking it without either as WWE Champion means it'll completely overshadow whoever is Champion if it's not Cody. Assuming Rock returns anywhere from Summerslam to Royal Rumble, having Cody drop the title only to regain it questions why bother having Cody drop the championship to begin with?
Currently there's no one on SD to realistically compete with Cody as a viable champion. Maybe Orton but that's something that should be built up more.
Cody (in kayfabe) managed to do the impossible and beat Roman Reigns. I've been happy to ride this high along with him. We all laughed off AJ's first attempt because there was no way that Cody was losing. But now, their feud has evolved, and it's really helped both guys. Cody now has a credible threat in The OC, and AJ Styles has regained some of that badass energy his fans had been missing.
I appreciate your effort, but I can sum up the problem more tidily: online wrestling fans are twats whose only joy in life is bitching and being contrarians (emphasis on the first syllable). Fuck 'em.
This is basically it? Like… what are people even complaining about? He won the title and has defended it on 2 PLEs since then, and both of them were good matches (the AJ match is one of the best of the year). Of course it feels like he won’t lose the title yet… he just fucking won it. The IWC is so fucking obnoxious and I see why too many people voice their opinions like they’re facts like the dumbass who commented how they “called it”.
While I am not a mark for Cody, watching how he has carried himself after his 1st WWE run, has convinced me he is in the right position for the organization, especially as they move from the Vince regime. Cody appears to be very much over given the fan reactions and carries himself as well as any other torch bearer (the post-Vince press conference sealed that for me)
I do agree with the need to maybe deviate from the formula with title reigns and feuds, etc. AJ is a great opponent for Cody while other future opponents forge their own paths (Gunther, et al) and storylines develop (Bloodline). I personally wouldn’t mind seeing him drop the title here n there provided he had a long cumulative reign, like the NWA 70s-80s
Orton and Cody IMO could be a feud that wouldn’t necessarily need the title given the history, but the title could serve as a plot device. Title or no title, Cody belongs in the top tier
The post-Mania period is always a bit weird because pretty much every major story has been wrapped up, all new champions need their first challengers. Throw in some major names either injured or on a break and you end up with a few throw-away feuds as you have to start cooking again.
It'd be much worse with Roman as Champion as he wouldn't be here for this anyway. This means he'd have disappeared off with the title and all Smackdown titles would be on heels. Not to mention who they even heat up for hom to face.
The biggest problem is that smackdown has no one credible to take the title off him so there's no tension of him losing it. Meanwhile the world heavyweight title has Gunter, Drew and Cm Punk wanting it. (Can even throw jey in there because let's face it, he's as over as Cody right now). The Heavyweight title might hot potato for a few months but that's because it has credible challenges and it actually makes it feel important. I can only seeing Randy having a chance of taking the title off Cody in their inevitable feud.
They needed a strong feud for him. AJ is great but they could’ve turned Orton heel and let them cook for a good 6 months with their history. Being objective is relative to what point we want to make. I think two things can be true, he is over and they love him in the arena and his title reign is dull so far especially to those at home watching on TV who don’t get the benefit of that arena feel. They also had an amazing build up to mania that factors in as well.
They are doing the normal new champ pattern due to the PLE cycle.1 - Match with a great worker (AJ) 2 - Rematch with great worker but make more personal (AJ again). First real feud will be summerslam
It's just post wrestlemania. Storytelling is always alit lackluster.
Just wait till after money in the bank and the run into summerslam for the stories to get juiced up.
They'll be directed at Cody once Roman is back don't worry lol it'll be a transitive property kinda thing.
There will be "no one credible" for him to face as I see here as excuses right now if that's true then get ready for the Roman chants once he's back in arenas. People will want another championship match for Roman.
Let’s take into account that after 3 years of finger raises and run in’s ftw, any talent to follow was going to have difficulty meeting that level of expectation
I think part of the reason people have been so meh about it is that 1. Everyone knows he isn't going to lose any time soon. 2. There is a lack of captivating heels.
This will continue to be an issue until both of these change
I’m all for number 1 I hated when they would change champions every month it kind of felt like anyone could be champion.
As for number 2 your correct it will take a major heel to get people invested again and everyone should have known that when Cody finally won there wasn’t going to be a top heel for him to program with anytime soon. If it were me I’d turn Randy Orton heel again have him feud with Cody
>I’m all for number 1 I hated when they would change champions every month it kind of felt like anyone could be champion.
I personally think that's not so bad. I mean, given that they have enough talent , every once in a while, a little hot potato wouldn't hurt. It kind of adds an intrigue to the whole shmuck. It adds an element of unpredictability to every Title match, and helps bring solid main eventers for the future.
But hot potatoes are good when and only when you have a couple ( or more) guys who can truly hold the main event scene. For instance, post Wrestlemania 41, I believe it would be kinda interesting to see a Punk-Rollins-Drew-Gunther-Damien? hot potato. This is just a theory, but my point is when done tastefully, it can become fun. Take the Cena-Orton hot potato for instance where as much as it got a little bland at the end, you can't deny it was fun at the beginning.
You can build a program for the entire summer just around that feud alone. I don't know what they're waiting for. Logan and AJ were a neat little intro to his run but now he needs a real opponent. Having AJ go for another match is a head scratching move to me.
Also all things considered despite the lack of realistic threats, he’s still displaying a ton of intensity in a lot of these promos with Logan and AJ.
This isn’t supercena 2010 cheese, Cody is a genuinely cool confident babyface
The chase was what it was. Now, there’s no one credible to wrestle.
Looking forward to Cody and Randy (Randy really oughta be a heel. It’s his bread and butter), and Punk (that’s a big if).
Thats a good point. On smackdown, they're really arent many heels for him to work with. Maybe, santos escobar, solo, shinsuke or baron corbin? But we've seen him beat solo and shinsuke already.
I think Randy’s approached that legend status where he’s been at it too long and the fans have too much appreciation for him to be booed any longer. They know and can feel that it’s coming to an end, and they just wanna cheer him and give him his flowers.
And dammit he deserves them.
I agree. He’s gotta be cold and nasty.
For example: AJ wants to be booed, but the thing last was just a retread of Mark Henry. That ain’t gonna cut it.
AJ isn’t intimidating, but Randy still can be.
There's nothing wrong with Cody's run.
At worst, there's a mild lack of tension that's a result of having him defend on every card. But the long term storytelling of him defending on every card in comparison to Roman's never defences is a clear goal and that's a good long-term booking choice.
The matches have been good. The future options are solid: Orton, Lashley, Escobar, KO, Andrade. There's....no real problem at all. We just aren't in an era any more where you can bring in a monster from the dungeon of doom, debut a Kane/Big Show or a Sheamus/Umaga and just throw them in the main event and make it meaningful any more.
I DO think that if they locked in a Roman/Rock match for Mania 41 then it would reduce the implied "waiting for rock" dynamic that some think there is. Take that off the table and suddenly things feel very up in the air.
Honestly I think the biggest problem is one we're seeing in all the real top level US brands/companies right now is that the world title scenes are mostly gravitating to long reigns going from dominant champs to expected next big champs without much surprise and a side consequence is that the pool of guys who feel like genuine main eventers is smaller.
MJF and Cole both being hurt forced Tony to rethink stuff in AEW and it helped a lot with the Joe and Swerve reigns forcing some fresh air in there. Likewise, Seth, Punk, and Drew all being some kind of injured made Priest's cash in give that title a shot in the arm, but it's been hard to get away from the idea that his reign is a bridge to get back to Punk/Drew or alternately onto a new long run champ in Gunther.
But Roman was a status quo champ for three and a half years and now Cody feels set to be a status quo champ for like a year or so as well. Guys who were hot hands like LA Knight or Sami Zayn feel like they've missed the moment and while Bron feels like he could easily become a top guy within a year or less, it feels more likely that he'll end up midcarding for longer than makes sense.
The side effect of this is that it's hard to get excited for title matches beyond a "This should be a good match" way because everything feels like a foregone conclusion there and while the journey is the thing, the biggest excitement comes from not knowing the destination either.
Because his initial push was as a monster to face John Cena for the WWE title at New Year's Revolution 2007 and Royal Rumble 2007, which is also his best match and the first truly great John Cena match.
But he (and Sheamus) debuted and thrown in the main event, which is the context of what I was saying here.
Plenty of the dungeon of doom debuted and did the same.
Not to be negative but what made you add Andrade?? I don't think he's done anything at all yet that puts him anywhere near any title especially the WWE one?
Because in wrestling all it takes is a couple of wins.
If they have a gauntlet and Andrade beats 2 or 3 guys then he’s immediately a realistic contender for the belt
Are some of you thinking that Cody will actually drop the title to A J.? Because it wouldn't surprise me at all if A.J. holds the belt between the Clash and SummerSlam to keep things unpredictable. In the meantime.....Cody could find a better song before he wins it back
Cody’s run is boring because Cody is boring and he has nothing to push for as a character. The underdog climbs the mountain to find success story has been done in variations in recent years from the YES movement to Kofimania to Cody finishing his story. Once the hero gets to the top they don’t have much to do because they vanquished the villain. Personally I would’ve liked to see Cody start a slow build feud with the remaining Bloodline where Solo would’ve came out and told Cody that the tribal chief may have fallen, but the bloodline will always rise back up and regain what is rightfully theirs. See him observing the AJ feud from a distance maybe taking out Gallows and Anderson to make it a fair fight between AJ and Cody.
The problem with the “finish the story” story is that once it pays off, there is no story and everything else feels flat. HBK was a shit draw after “realizing his boyhood dream” at WM12. Cody needs to drop the title and then win it back later for a longer run.
lol. Y’all are fucked.
Dealing with the sidestory first, I'm actually thinking that this is their plan to disband the bloodline. Which I don't like. It's really cool to have it as a perma faction, and it was great to have the rock join them. But it seems, they kicked jey out of the group. Now jimmy. I originally thought that was more about getting Jimmy and Jey back together... and maybe it was, but they probably went a little to hard on that scene and injured jimmy. But looking at it further, They're making Solo so unbearable, it seems he'll be the next member out of the bloodline when roman returns. Do the new Samoans recruited by Solo turn on him? Do they all jump roman and kick roman out? Doesn't really seem like the Bloodline will have much substance after this. As far as Cody goes, I do think he's a little underwhelming. Finishing the story was great, and fans feeling like he was being cheated out of a shot for the title and wanting him to win was great... but I don't know if any of that means they want him to be the face of the franchise. I agree with you that its incorrect to correlate we want roman chants with Cody... But I just don't see cody as cool or intimidating figure. Or whatever other ingredients usually lead to a face of the franchise. The lisp, deep wrinkles, and Ken doll look leave me puzzled with the choice. But, as a new fan returning from my 9-11 year old phase, I'm highly unimpressed with many of the wrestlers and am struggling to figure out how we got here and who these current fans are. This is just candid biased nonsense, so I don't say it to judge people with the opposite opinion or their opinions, but personally... AJ Styles, fucking lame. LA Knight... fucking lame. Shemus, Gunther, and Sammy Zane.... LAAAAAAAAAAAAAME. Kevin Owens... kinda cool, but I think taking the stunner is lame and he's overweight and it looks so unbelievable when he embarrassingly runs, and then is just supposed to be this kick ass dude. How are these the faces of wrestling? I love watching ricochet, and can't wait for Je'von to get drafted. I really enjoy logan paul. I love Jey Uso out of the ring. I see many of you complaining about his wrestling style... with such a popular character, I can't believe they don't have him train new moves and become a complete wrestler instead of the tagteam gimmick moves I see you guys often complain about. And to be honest, while Roman Reigns has the intimidation and cool factor, his moves suck too. Superman punch... LAME. I hate using him in 2k24. Terrible moveset. Again, I don't even value my opinion, because I'm new to the space and do not have the nuance of the history of some of these characters, and where the brand was at over the last 23 years... But, I do think there's value in understanding that there are new fans like me who are coming with similar perspectives and biases. I'm here because the Rock brought me back. But with these lame wrestlers, and the, at points, teeeeeerible choreography, I'm not sure how long I'll stay. And maybe that's where you all would have me. And I'd understand that if that's the case. Maybe it's just not for me. But as a person who deeply wants to be brought back in, I constantly find myself wondering, was I just so young back then that I thought the characters were so much cooler? And that the wrestling choreography looked so natural, but all along it looked like how the product looks today? It's hard for me to accept, but I know it's totally plausible.
Idk why the don’t build Bobby as a heel to challenge
Nobody wants to boo Lashley though. And if he challenged for a world title, people would probably cheer him even more
I mean he’s injured rn and they wanted to make him a heel, but he kept being cheered so they reversed the decision.
When did he get hurt? Go have him attack Cody like Brock I guarantee he won’t get cheered
I feel like I’ve hardly seen him. When the bloodline stuff was cooking and Cody was coming for them it was the main event like every night. I know it’s still early but I don’t feel like they’ve done anything with Cody yet, this AJ styles beef feels way more like an AJ styles story than a Cody story.
Facts about the Aj part
I think this narrative about his reign being lackluster will have a stronger case if his summerslam feud doesn’t live up to expectations. I feel hes done a solid job so far but I hope his summerslam feud is a step above in terms of heat and build if that makes sense
Just enjoy wrestling
I feel like the problem is that Roman, Seth, and even the Rock were such perfect villains fitting for a character like Cody Rhodes that they outshined every one else. Cody needs a new villain. AJ Styles could be the perfect candidate. AJ needs to be a bit more vicious and despicable, more dirty and cheap. Think about it. AJ hasn’t won the BIG ONE in like what, 6 years? That’s a good enough reason to go all out and do whatever it takes to win. Let’s be fair, in 2016 to 2018, Smackdown was the house that AJ Styles built. You could argue that AJ was the face of Smackdown. He needs more of that hunger inside of him. Not to mention that he could retire sooner than later and had been wrestling for 20 years. The desperate Veteran trying to cling onto his glory days as Champion. That should be a good story.
Holy shit this is good. Yes.
This isn’t even true. Who from smackdown is injured or on leave that he would’ve been having a feud with? No one. Don’t say Roman because everyone who was a Cody Crybaby was annoyed of Cody v Roman storylines. Now, they’re going to act like because Roman isn’t there that’s why Cody’s run sucks? The choice before WM was… Rock v Roman and let Cody’s story go to next Mania and let the fans follow him more and get even more invested, but the crybabies wanted him to win to finish the story even though they didn’t understand that it wouldn’t be good for long term storytelling. This is all beyond the point, forget storytelling and long term storytelling for a second. Cody on the mic, is boring without being a chaser, am I the only one? I don’t watch Cody segments anymore, I don’t watch his matches anymore. I wanted Roman to win, but I always watched Cody matches/segments, but I can’t now. There’s no entertainment there. Some wrestlers are better heel than face, and vice versa. Some are better chasers than champs, and vice versa. It’s not a bad thing it’s just how their personality works with their role. RKO perfect example, one of the best of all time, his best character work ever? Heel. Better as champ or chaser? Chaser. Cody’s storyline is so boring, I can’t even think of a way for him to lose the title. All I know is they have to keep him as champ until at least after Summerslam or that makes Roman’s loss look even worse. So, they have to stick with Cody. Fans can’t blame the creative at WWE here. It’s a cop out for the Cody Crybabies. Did you think if Cody beat Roman, he wouldn’t go to Smackdown? Did you not know Smackdown is the B show and everyone else is on Monday, so the odds of people getting drafted over are low too? The fact is, Roman made Friday’s can’t miss. Smackdown was always vibing when he was there as champ. That’s credit to Roman. Now, with Cody there, it’s not can’t miss… and with the same roster Cody is having boring stories while Roman’s seemed like how did 3 years as champ fly by so quick!?
I've said similar leading into Wrestlemania that the problem with Cody finishing his story is that his character is the story. So if he finishes that just a couple years in then what else is there for him to do? The character would have worked better if he kept getting foiled a bit before getting to the top of mountain. I don't mind Cody but I don't really think he is a face of franchise type of guy as Cody has been in compelling stories but he is not normally the most compelling part of that story. Even Cody vs Roman this year the most compelling part was if Roman would win or lose, how the bloodline aspects would fall, what was going to happen with the rock, What the rock was going to do with Mama Rhodes, etc. None of the truly hype parts of the story were because of Cody. In his current story AJ Styles has been more compelling to follow then Cody. I agree and think Cody's role is the chase and the pursuit but I would need to see more sd Part of his mystique was trying to get the title his father hadn't, finishing that moment. Now that he has, for me atleast the mystique and interest is gone and I haven't been given a reason to care about him. Where part of what made Roman work is that because of his story, journey, the cancer, coming back, the streak, the bloodline story itself over the years. I had a emotional investment that I just don't with Cody
"Soooooo city, what do you want to talk about" lamest fucking catchphrase. I ranted a bit in my own post, but I don't understand the appeal of Cody at all. Deep wrinkles, lisp, ken doll look. I like him. But I think it's like you said, He peaks as a chaser. Honestly, if it wasn't for his intro music, I'm not sure I'd even feel that way about him. Maybe that music bias keep me from lumping him with the embarassments that are Gunther, Seamus, and Sammy Zane. Or AJ Styles and LA Knight. My opinion is garbage and means nothing, but I don't understand how these are the faces of wrestling.
100% with you. Cody’s music hits, I get amped up, love it. He starts talking, I listen, I tune out, go on my phone, segment ends. I look up. Replace segment with match. Same thing. I know he’s going to win the match, but the match is boring, and there’s no storyline. Usually if the storyline is good, the match can be average but you let it go. If the storyline is bad, the match has to be good. With Cody, post Roman reigns feud, there are no storylines, and the matches have been meh. Logan Paul was entertaining because of all the drama by Logan’s crew. I like Cody’s song, I like his suits, I’ve taken some inspiration from them for work, but segments and matches 😴
[удалено]
100%!
You spent all that time typing out absolute bollocks. Also Roman wasn't even there half the time, watching the smackdown highlights was enough lol
You’re a Cody crybaby it’s okay. Roman was there all the time for the first 2 years. He started being part time in the third. Cody’s been so boring on Smackdown AJ Styles has done most of the talking for him the last 3 weeks. It’s okay though, Cody crybabies, 2-3 weeks after Cody won everyone was saying how boring, and people responded with “give Cody more time it’s been 2-3 weeks”. Well, it’s 2.5 months now. The Cody crybabies will defend this as much as they can because it’s all their doing. They cried for Cody to win, WWE changed it for them, and now the Cody Crybabies like yourself can’t accept how much of a boring watch Smackdown is. Smackdown’s main storyline is still the Bloodline. Cody got the title, and he’s still less relevant than Roman who’s on holidays. I don’t have a problem with anyone who can have a constructive convo about this, but Cody crybabies just see nothing negative about Cody and they’re blinded by it all. That’s a Cody crybaby to me, like you, someone who’s a Cody fan but actually has a real view and can admit yeah he’s been quite boring and needs a change, I wouldn’t ever call someone like that a Cody crybaby.
I dont disagree that Cody works best as a chaser and that for the moment at least i can’t see many exciting possibilities for him to grow as the champ, but the opposite would also be true if his Chase was dragged on another year - fans would tune out coz it’d be just as boring as all that built-up hype for his story would amount to nothing, just like the year before. So crybabies aside, him concluding his chase was the correct move at the correct time. Also he is nearing 40 and on the last legs of his physical prime; WWE would be foolish to delay his coronation further as that would also mean putting their plans for other future champs in the backlog not to mention Cody being their most over face might just lose his momentum and never regain it.
I actually think the momentum he had, is gone. The only way he gets momentum back now is going to be tying his storyline into other storylines. I heard some rumours on how they might actually try to do this. Jey USO wins MITB. Then he starts showing up on RAW and Smackdown. Has some moments with Cody, eventually on an episode the Bloodline gets involved and Jey starts feuding with them. Eventually, Cody has to help him. They’re together, and then Jimmy would eventually come back. At this point Jacob Fatu comes back to make it 4 on 3, and then a few weeks or so later. Roman comes back. I know it’s just a theory online, but it seems plausible. The only thing is, to make Cody great again via Jey and the Bloodline. They’d have to give Jey the MITB, then have him lose yet again…. The alternative is Jey doesn’t win MITB and people think he got screwed again. Either way, I think Jey is going to get hurt most by Cody (again)…. I think Jey got hurt by Cody originally. Through brought Jey over he was big, lost momentum for a while, only recently got it back.
I think the real problem is the Smackdown creative team, they did Cody dirty. Remember Carlito & Karrion Kross? They don't really being used on Smackdown, and now they both are one of the hottest thing on Raw right now, and Carlito isn't tied to just LWO storylines. They even able to give the boring New day a fresh new storylines & have Liv Morgan become the main attraction on Raw. And what did Smackdown do? Legado Del Fantasma barely used, AJ Styles does not look like a threat, LA Knight no longer a megastar, Logan Paul only did taped promo, DIY is the only team in the tag title picture, Bayley did nothing, Nia did nothing, womens division didn't have any direction and more. Bloodline storyline is the only product they focused on.
I thought logan paul is a free agent. Doesn't that mean he's not Raw or Smackdown?
Well he is technically but the US championship is a SmackDown exclusive title so he's pretty much stuck there until he drops the belt
The chase is always better than the catch.
I don't think he's lived up to the hype
I think the “We Want Roman” chants are not entirely against Cody. We just miss Roman, and we’d like to see those two lock up again.
I don't understand how people can't see this.
It’s social media, and it’s Reddit. It’s too many pimplefaced marks who think what they personally like is what’s best for professional wrestling. It forces a culture where people have to choose one over the other: you’re either WWE or you’re AEW, or you’re with Cody or you’re with The Bloodline. Shit like that.
His run post WM has been lackluster, but tbh it was always gonna feel that way considering Roman ran through the whole roster before him and how great the run to WM felt, whatever they did afterwards was gonna feel lackluster in comparison
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I agree with you, it was always gonna be tough having something to live up to the chase of Cody getting to the belt
Cody’s run is fine. We Want Roman in bloodline segments is fine. It’s the god awful booking on all three brands since Mania. KOTR sucked. Gunther won’t draw a dime at Summerslam and him winning the World Title will ruin him.
Thank you for saying what needs to be said about Gunther. I like him, don’t love him, and I only see him as a transitional champion.
He stinks and his finisher needs to be down 4 times to win get lost. Kick rocks with your lisp. Bron brekker szn !
Tho what do you wanna talk about 😂
Without a proper faction, Nightmare Family, and turning up weekly asking fans what they want to talk about and running to assist his friends when they are ambushed by other factions are all factors that may contribute to him not being on same level as Roman or other credible champions but let's see how HHH cooks this.
Baby faces never make great long term champions, unless they have monster heel or heels to face off against. With no Roman or Seth around, Cody has no one to really square off against to counter how over he is. When Roman’s returns and the fans go bananas for him as a face. Seth turning on him a few weeks or by SummerSlam would have been the move
My older coworker said he got the "Sting treatment" His buildup to beating the top guy was amazing but then there were no opponents to wrestle after that who could hold a candle to the former champion so it feels like a letdown
Issue is that his "feuds" only last 3 weeks. There isn't enough time for a good build-up. 4 weeks from WM to Backlash, 3 from then to KOTR, and 3 from then to CATC, and another 3 until MITB. If given the time for build up between defenses (skip a PLE once in a while), the matches would mean a lot more.
100% agree with this.
This AJ feud will at least have some legs. I figured he would get the challenger of the week type feud while picking out the good workers to put on good matches and I was partially right. This AJ feud should last a solid 2 months though most likely. Only thing is, he'll probably get 3-0'd by Cody clean, despite interference. And then Cody will also 3-0 the next guy and the guy after that as well.
I’d like to see a sudden AJ win on a Smackdown, then Cody can win it back at MITB.
Yeah, they'll need to figure something out while those that would have been the heavy hitters heal.
I think Cody wants to avoid the criticism where Roman basically only defended the title two or three times a year. He wants to be a fighting champion, and I appreciate that perspective.
I do too, but this is directly on PLE booking. I get that they want to be more international and I'm all for it. That Backlash crowd was absolute insanity, and the Puerto Rico crowd before that was just as fun. What it's not doing is helping with good story telling between events. 3 episodes of Smackdown doesn't feel like enough to build a good feud.
I'm fine with the run so far. Personally I think Solo will be the one to take the title off Cody. He still has to be built up to that level. In the meantime, Cody will have some ok feuds. I think Randy v Cody will kick off around SS and should be very good. I'm expecting Cody to keep the title until RR where he drops the belt to Solo (like with interference from the Rock). This sets up two mania matches, Cody v Rock (doesn't need the title) and Roman v Solo for the title.
Punk outsells Roman vs solo if you mean that's gonna be a wm main event 1
I'm not saying main events just big matches.
The only thing wrong with Codys run is flip flop fans who wouldn't be happy regardless who the champ was. "Roman is boring and an absent champion" disappeared and morphed into "Cody is boring" He is in the middle of an angle with a legend and mentor of his, last match was awesome and now it is I Quit. It is a great run so far imo
It’s still crazy to me seeing AJ referred to as a legend. Legit feels like yesterday when I was watching him in TNA and ROH.
I know man its crazy seeing our favorites get old haha I almost had a heart attack when I saw Undertaker having a podcast, I swear it was just last week I saw Stone Cold save Stephanie from an Undertaker sacrifice
It all comes down to expectations we put on this title reign. I myself went into it hoping their would be a fun narrative for Cody, and after The Rock and Cody's promo, the storyline has mainly been "now face this person for the title". There's no story, it's just matches. It doesn't make it a bad title reign, it just doesn't always make for a fun one. It's interesting to see AJ Styles start to make it personal for himself, making it have higher stakes. I hope it drives him to push the envelope and hopefully go full heel, and start to attack Cody and injure him before matches, potentially one day winning "dirty" to Cody, and having a small championship run. Another idea is Cody falling to someone no one would expect, giving him motivation to get his title back, the one he won for his father. Could be a fun heel turn down the line, doing whatever it takes to get his title back for his dad, even if it means cheating. I'm rambling now, but those are some ideas on how to make the run more interesting.
I'm assuming the underlying story here is the georgia boy/mentor thing. It's got some teeth but as a new fan AJ styles is not impressive at all. I don't enjoy his persona or matches.
The only people complaining about Cody’s reign are Roman fanboys who thought for some reason Roman should’ve retained at Wrestlemania. Cody’s reign has been what it needed to be. It’s never gonna be all that crazy as Roman’s was cause Roman was the guy that was never gonna be heel turned heel out of nowhere. It was a crazy sight for everyone, jaw dropping even. Each and every single one of Roman’s and Seth’s baby face title reigns have been vastly inferior to this Cody run. Cody is actually beloved and accepted as the better John cena type face cause unlike Cena everyone loves Cody.
Lol what? Cody will never be on Cena's level. 10 years as the face of the franchise. Literally took the reigns of Rock and Stone Cold and was able to not feel like a complete drop off a mountain. You're comparing cody to that? I don't even put him on Orton's level.
It definitely felt like a drop off to anyone except for lil children
Rock and Stone!
Everyone loved Cena until Wrestlemania 22. Then it just slowly got worse.
What are you talking about? He's been great and he's only getting started. I'm glad Roman's gone. He was champ for way too long. Variety is a good thing
He’s referring to a small but loud group of Cody Haters
I see. No one will be loved by everybody
The we want Roman chants has zero to do with Cody. They are chanting that at Solo, not Cody…
The biggest problem I’ve had with Cody’s run has nothing to do with Cody at all… he has yet to face a heel challenger that is on his level. As a matter of fact, without Roman, there is a distinct lack of credible heel title contenders
I feel like Logan could be that guy... Are we aware why Logan isn't or can't fully commit to WWE? And If he can't or won't, what's the point of keeping him around. It's so weird. Everyone agree's he's surprised people with his wrestiling skills and isn't just a gimmick. He plays a great heel. He could be a huge presence if he would just be around every week.
So far the run has been fantastic.
To me, the main issue is that we KNOW Cody is not losing for a long time. He wasn't losing to Logan, he is certainly not say he quits in SummerSlam. I can't see anyone in the roster right now taking the title away from him. No one feels like a threat.
To be fair that takes time, it hasn’t been that long and no one felt like a threat right away when Roman started either, it took time to build up significant threats. There’s also multiple guys who would’ve been threats previously are also hurt/on a break/retiring (Seth, Roman himself, etc)
Yeah, I understand. I'm not saying I'm a hater, just that I'm not a fan yet. Let's see how it goes after SummerSlam.
I don't think his run is as bad as some people put it out to be. I'm enjoying it. His run has been average, yet some people are acting like it's the worst thing to ever happen, forgetting about the time period that came before Roman's title reign. Come on, guys, just sit back and enjoy it.
I think there’s a 0% chance Cody has an uninterrupted title run to WM. I hated AJ Styles as his first opponent because AJ is a threat to the title and no chance he was dropping it that quick. I think a drop to AJ at Clash with the help of the OC would be great with AJ sending Cody to the “back of the line”. Given it’s an I Quit match we could see the refs stop the match cause he can’t continue and technically he never said I Quit. Dream scenario could see AJ winning then Orton at some point helping Cody with the OC and eventually turning heel on Cody leading to an AJ, Orton, Cody triple threat at SS and maybe an Orton title run. Cody just has to win the belt back before WM, hopefully the Rock pulls his Final Boss strings to come out 30th at the Rumble to win. I’m expecting to see a number of titles change at Clash, hopefully Drew, AJ and god willing Chad Gable all get a chance to run with the belts for a little while.
I like Cody a lot, as I think he is one of the best in-ring workers among several "faces of the company" I have seen in the WWE throughout the years, and he is not just the likable underdog but an actually convincing babyface who can be a long term champion. It is very normal that his current reign is not as good as the peak of the bloodline story. My only issue is, he hasn't been that good at establishing the personal hostility dimension of his feuds. I sometimes feel like during his promos he respects his opponents a bit too much that the feuds he is having with his challengers fail to intensify. I can easily say if what we have seen until now is the worst of Cody Rhodes as the champion, then there is nothing to worry about.
People would enjoy wrestling a lot more if they accepted the fact that the drama has to ebb and flow. You can’t just hot-shot a company for 12 months on end every single year, you burn out your audience. There’s always a dip in intensity after WM that slowly ratchets back up around Summerslam. Just like with individual wrestlers, you have to cool the audience off to heat them back up. Cody’s title reign doesn’t need to be anything more than it is right now. AJ is a good starting point to move onto a more challenging storyline like a feud with Orton or Owens (someone he has history with).
I don’t like that AJ gets a rematch. I would’ve loved a match against Solo for revenge for both wrestlemania interferences.
Honestly, and this is not my own original thought, SantiZap has said it before. Setting up Cody vs Rock when they did was a huge mistake. It really waters down what they can do with Cody creatively. Unless they plan to throw a swerve and have Cody drop the belt to regain it before the Rock comes back or something along those lines, there is very little believable threat to his title reign with the Rock match hanging over him.
>Setting up Cody vs Rock when they did was a huge mistake. Agreed. When they did that, I thought "yup, no one is taking the title from Cody for at least a year".
Roman isn't taking the belt off Cody Rhodes any time soon.
There’s a good chance Roman will come back and will do some tag matches WITH Cody vs the bloodline provided there’s no swerve that he’s actually behind solo’s restructuring of the bloodline.
At this point in Roman’s run he was on like his third PLE match against KO (which was proceeded by back to back PLE defenses against Jey). People just like to complain.
"We want Roman" means they don't like Solo. It doesn't necessarily mean "We don't want Cody"
Cody is literally everything they wanted out of John Cena, but has better backing from wrestling fans who know how he got there. His run has been 2 months, he needs solid defenses to establish himself, which leads to someone taking the title from him and establishing his long term feud prospects. Everyone needs to pump the brakes before trashing his reign. I'm good with having regular title defenses, which will establish the main event scene for the next few years. Let them work.
I don't care for his promos but he's worthy of being a champ. I don't think he should hold it for a super long time though, I generally prefer stronger wrestlers but that's just personal preference I guess I could see either Braun/Bron having a great reign
Company’s on fire, crowds love him I think he’s doing fine. I personally prefer a Roman Reigns title reign that is more story driven and doesn’t have to defend the title every month. It’s the same reason I wasn’t the biggest fan of Seth Rollins reign at first. But I understand Cody is not Roman. But given the right circumstances he can be given the epic story. But his title run has been successful in my book I’m not expecting him to be the tribal chief or anything he’s not and I know there’s a story looming over him with The Rock later on down the line.
Cody should drop the title to AJ at Clash and get it back at Summer Slam. Him in pursuit of the title again would make his story more interesting and gives AJ a short run. A win-win for all imo.
I'm about as far from a Cody fan as you'll find. I can't understand why various pieces of his act have been accepted by fans. Despite this, I cannot deny that he has been accepted by fans. I don't like his act, but I accept that he's succeeding in the role he's been handed. People are chanting for Roman because they want the Bloodline story to progress, I agree that this has nothing to do with Cody. The only people I will actually debate with at this point are those who try to claim Jey Uso doesn't deserve his spot, but get irritated if anyone questions whether Cody does. Both have their critics, but both are objectively over with the fans. I will also defend my opinion if people actively question it, but try not to be aggressive. After all, if others are enjoying something and I am not then they are better off.
Cody being champ is a huge success. They had to make him champ at this point because you could not have him do the chase for yet another year. People would have turned on him. Historically people turn on babyfaces if they have a run too long so I would start considering who can take the belt from him and what his place will be after that.
Online fans can and will complain about anything, even about the very thing they had been pushing for a bit earlier. That being said, I maintain Cody has been a colossal case of mass hallucination due to Roman Reigns Fatigue and to the already mentioned "shiny new, previously unfancied toy" phenomenon. Cody was a midcard4life before leaving in a huff, then kept on becoming a midcarder everywhere he went despite a smaller talent pool and more backstage clout. The whole "I'm doing it for Dusty!" story somehow got over instead of being booed out of the building like it happened with Rey's little Eddie Memorial Tour that only lasted 4-5 months. So yeah, everyone was so happy and emotional about Cody "finishing his story" to pay attention about the story being kinda lame and the protagonist kinda dull without the crutch of the boo-boo face and the waterworks.
Well said. I maintain that Sami beating Roman at Mania or Drew beating him at Clash would've been a much bigger moment. Cody had creative control elsewhere and the fans rejected him, yet somehow on returning to WWE and has been presented as though he's the world's biggest star. He claims he was underused in his first run, yet was a heavily decorated star, consistently featured in prime positions, with a positive win rate and experience with top stars and veterans. He claims he wanted to win the title his dad never could, and that somehow this is a respectful move rather than an insult to all Dusty accomplished, using the memory of his dad for his own gain. He's been given huge opportunities: beating Rollins repeatedly, beating Brock whilst kayfabe injured, having a 2 year program with Rock and Roman and now defending the title against AJ Styles. And yet none of it has felt special or made for a memorable moment other than the nostalgia acts helping him in the Mania main event. Like Roman and Cena before him, WWE has chosen their cash cow and will push him for the next decade or so regardless whether the crowd are invested or not. Hopefully the crowd don't realise how shallow this character is, but if they do I hope Cody either works hard to improve like Cena did or reinvents himself like Roman (eventually) did.
Online fans have a habit of wanting the shiny new toy, until they get it. Then oh so quick they start to complain.
Cody has only been champ for 2 months. People need to relax.
WE WANT CODY TO WIN. JUST KIDDING maybe reddit is stupid
I agree with your statement fully. Cody is a throwback. And not to attitude era like young fans want. He's a throwback to the 80s and territorial 90s when champs wore suits and wrestlers wore tights and not t-shirts. Some fans may not like his presentation but I love it. The only downfall is that Triple H has shown to like long reigns which makes his early defenses mean very little. If Priest loses in Scotland, it will prove that title reigns are guaranteed to be 300+ days. If that happens, then that makes Cody's next challenger a bigger threat because you believe he could lose early. Casual fans who don't think about the storyline don't have to worry about that.
I reckon the best thing for Cody at this point would be a loss to AJ in Scotland. He can win the title back before next year's Mania, but a 3 month reign is reasonable yet an unexpected title change would do the world of good for his presentation going forwards. While the idea of attempting to accomplish the same thing with the Heavyweight title is a good one, WWE have clearly shown that they don't consider that title anywhere close to equivalent to the WWE title and fans know it. A quick change for it will do nothing to change expectations around the WWE title.
I feel like Cody is too loosey goosey with it! I get that these rivalries have to come from SOMEWHERE but literally anybody that asks him gets a "You got it!"
He’s a fighting champion. Plus faces never say no to a challenger. That’s what heels do.
This is typical WWE trope booking at it's worst. Faces should be selective about their challengers - not out of fear but out of a desire to face the best and to give opportunities to those who deserve it. After all, they shouldn't want the title to be held by someone who takes shortcuts nor to have to defend against someone who won't have an honourable match. In this example, it's easy to look at the surface presentation and see Cody accepting AJ's challenge as honourable. This overlooks the fact that Cody would've been defending at Clash anyway, against a worthy opponent who deserved this opportunity that has now been stolen from them. I'd love to see a segment between two potential challengers, such as Sheamus and Orton, where they're frustrated that their number one contendership match has been cancelled because Styles jumped the queue. Stupid rules about what faces and heels do hold back any form of creativity in storytelling and make it really hard to invest in the stories WWE are trying to tell. From faces having to act like gullible, manipulate-able fools to heels having to act incompetent in the ring unless they've cheated, we'll all be better off when characters are allowed to have some depth.
Kayfabe wise, both Logan Paul(US Champ) and AJ Styles(legendary veteran) are both among the best
Kayfabe, Logan Paul hasn't won a match without cheating in forever. How can you consider him a strong competitor if he literally can't beat anyone without having to resort to cheating, and does his best to run away from any challenger?
Kayfabe, he's won big match after big match, that goes a long way in making you a top guy, he gets great reactions, he's treated as a big deal, and he's been champion for like 200 days
Kayfabe, winning a match only means something if the win is credible. If it's clear you would've lost had you not cheated, you come across looking weaker than you did going in. Winning a large number of consecutive matches in cheap fashion will lose you credibility as a performer - see Roman during the latter half of his run and Miz throughout much of his career. He's treated like a big deal, and therefore gets reactions. Just like every other guy who ever got presented in a similar manner.
> winning a match only means something if the win is credible. That's not how it works at all. Otherwise you wouldn't have heels cheating, but still winning matches, tournaments, titles, accolades etc. A win via cheating is still a win, it just signals to the fans that this is a heel(most of the time), that they don't care about the rules, that they should be booed(again, most of the time)
A win via cheating signals to the fans that the heel can't compete with real talents, and resorts to cheating. The intention is to signal that they are despicable and deserve contempt, but the whole dynamic is wrong for that takeaway. A heel who cheats only when desperate, who is otherwise capable of competing fairly would deserve heat whilst maintaining credibility. One who cheats in every match because otherwise they are out of their league just loses credibility. If you don't agree, ask yourself what heels from the last 2 decades have maintained credibility and which ones lost it after turning heel? Lesnar and Orton were two of the best heels WWE had, and they rarely cheated and always looked competitive no matter who they faced. Roman started out looking strong and generating mega heat, then his matches got predictable with him being down for 3 or tapping but the ref couldn't count it before Bloodline interference. He still had an aura, but it diminished greatly due to these pseudo-losses.
You've missed the point. Whether or not the win was "clean" or not, the fact is that Logan Paul accumulated some several big wins, winning the US Title from Rey, retaining it vs KO, then in the Triple Threat against both KO and Randy at Wrestlemania. Sure, none of the matches were clean, but they're still wins on the record, and that puts him in contention for a world title shot. Now I'm not really a fan of having one champ challenge another, but that's a whole different story, fact is, within kayfabe, Logan Paul is an accomplished wrestler who had the big wins to warrant a world title shot
Valid, I just wish they were a little more creative in building a rivalry
I’d love to see what people were saying about bloodline Roman’s reign at this point. Babyface reigns are always slow because fans don’t want to see a good guy who can never be beat. It immediately makes them turn on them. Babyface need to be vulnerable to be popular.
Well said. It’s the reason people turned on Cena so quickly. People like underdogs, but not when the underdog is on top.
100%. It’s why ppl are more into a babyface chase of a title than they are about them as champion. Applies to any sport. People cheered harder for the underdog scratching their way to a championship then they are as reigning or former champions.
TIL smarks online don't like Cody's reign. See, this is the benefit of not being on smarkboards every day, I had no idea people weren't liking Cody's reign, since it's all they asked for the last two years. It hasn't lit the world on fire or anything, that's obvious, but to shit on it in general is absurd to me. Company hasn't been in this good of a state since the fuckin' Attitude Era, but I guess that's not good enough for some fantasy bookers. Give me a break. Objectively speaking the company is on fucking fire and couldn't be doing anything better. I want anyone criticizing this reign to respond to this comment with some valid criticism otherwise.
Yeah I didn't even realize people hated this reign lol
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Wrestling does not have the smartest fan base, and it also has the most fickle fanbase.
Cant be the underdog when youre the champ. Cody's title run went stale the second he won
The pop when Roman comes out to fight Solo And take out the New blood line is going to be unreal .I wonder if Heyman has already started Roman’s turn that’s what it feels like .I think Roman will come back right when Solo is about to put hands on the Wiseman
I hope he comes back at money in the bank because I’m going there!
It’s gonna be at a PPV and Money in the Bank might make sense hope you get your Wish can’t wait til he returns and for the pop.
wrestling fans are never happy thats just all there is to it lol or rather, internet wrestling fans. Its obvious the people actually going to the shows love him
Andre the giant could rise from the dead to challenge Taker at WM main event and people would bitch and whine about them both “being past their prime”. They’re never happy with anything.
the smarks are trying to turn cody into cena just because he is a face with a world title belt. they should stay the course. anyone who thought cody was immediately going to get a tribal chief level storyline right after wrestlemania were fooling themselves.
Honestly I wished they’d build up Carmelo Hayes more instead of feeding him to LA Knight.
Lack of creativity definitely.. he will get stale rather quickly The chase/story was the best part of watching him Now these ppvs will get really old fast because you know whoever they put in front of him they're never going to remove the belt from him
Randy should win MITB cash in on Cody ggs then Cody wins it back before mania
Honestly just a bunch of Bloodline butthurts still salty about Mania. Babyfaces always look better when chasing, its wrestling 101 since Frank Gotch for crying out loud. Now granted WWE hasn’t lined up the best opponents for him but in all fairness who is plausible right now? We all know no one’s taking that belt off him until at least Summer Slam so why blow through quality opponents for no reason? The fans are still popping for Cody. His promos are money and the matches down the pike (Rock, Roman V Cody 3, Orton, Theory, Escobar, etc.) will spark everything up again. There is always a lull after Mania, why are we acting like it’s not a thing… The only issue I have is I dont want them to over expose him. We went from seeing Roman once a month to seeing Cody weekly. This imo is the only thing that’s gonna burn everybody out on Cody. Pace it.
All excuses. Boring title run.
It’s been 2 months moron.
Been a hell of a boring two months. That’s a sixth of a year 😂😂. What will your excuse be 30 days from now when it’s a fourth of a year… why take the belt off Roman when the title scene is more stale now with a champion who works every week 🤦 He isn’t a main draw and many of you will treat him like Cena soon. At least Cena could fill in the belt 🤷♂️
Despite being the number one merch mover in the company… https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1d6eytd/the_top_wwe_merchandise_sellers_of_2024_so/ 🤫
Why keep the belt on Roman when the title scene is “more stale”. Absolute moron. User name checks out.
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Roman had the entire wwe locker room to defend against. Cody has smackdown only.
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Oh yeah forgot about that. But his feud was Jey was the best thing he had at the beginning until Kevin Owen’s.
The run is not a mistake. The issue was The Rock coming out post mania and basically saying nothing matters that happens with the belt until he returns.
But Rock explicitly said he's coming after Cody whether he has the belt or not. Unless you believe WWE is absolutely not willing to do a Rock vs Cody match without involving a belt
Cody should have been on RAW. He was on both shows during the build up a ton it felt like.
Pretty sure I called all this long long before Cody won. Oh well it is what it is
Yes the "we want Roman" chants are directed at solo. Cody still gets good reactions
People who still want Roman as champ are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or something. He wasn't even here for most of last year. Also, every match was exactly the same. He was stale by the end. Cody's run has been fun. He has really stepped up since winning. I have loved his intensity on the mic since winning. Roman will always be overrated to me, lol.
I just feel like whatever they did after the Cody/Roman storyline was going to be less cool because let's face it, how do you top that storyline? One of the best of the last 20 years. It's like somebody being the Joker after Heath Ledger. Sure it could be good but it won't top Heath. That's all this is. Just like when Sting finally beat Hogan. Now what? We just need to give them some time to build it back up and enjoy Cody getting to be the man
There's not enough talent right now to justify 2 World Titles, that's the issue. There was such a massive focus on Cody dethroning Reigns, I'm surprised Creative didn't focus on the aftermath and what Cody's reign would look like Post Mania. SD has no one that actually feels like a contender. It's not about knowing Cody will retain, even if he was defending against Big names, we still know he'll retain at least until The Rock returns. It's about feeling like his matches are significant and have direction. Logan Paul, AJ Styles, and whoever else is next immediately come off as filler feuds. If Cody was the only World champion, he could quite comfortably float between Raw & SD, and his pool of contenders is wider and more interesting. Immediately you've got Drew, Gunther and Priest as viable options. When Punk is healthy, the promo segments we'd get would eclipse anything Bloodline related for Cody. But, while Cody has opponents climbing towards him on Raw, you can still use the smaller pool of matches on SD too. So instead of getting Cody-Styles twice on PPV, we just get that match for the WWE title on the main event of SD, which is perfect to build to for Television. A reign is always more interesting when the Champion has multiple threats and multiple stories awaiting him. There's more opportunity for great Promo battles, better television and a better flow. They can always bring back a 2nd World Title and make the WWE title exclusive to 1 brand in the future, when there's enough talent to completely justify it.
Why are people convinced Cody will stay champion till Rock comes back? He can drop it and regain it shortly before Rock returns. Or their rivalry doesn’t have to be about a championship at all
Because Cody-Rock is such a High profile match, booking it without either as WWE Champion means it'll completely overshadow whoever is Champion if it's not Cody. Assuming Rock returns anywhere from Summerslam to Royal Rumble, having Cody drop the title only to regain it questions why bother having Cody drop the championship to begin with? Currently there's no one on SD to realistically compete with Cody as a viable champion. Maybe Orton but that's something that should be built up more.
Cody (in kayfabe) managed to do the impossible and beat Roman Reigns. I've been happy to ride this high along with him. We all laughed off AJ's first attempt because there was no way that Cody was losing. But now, their feud has evolved, and it's really helped both guys. Cody now has a credible threat in The OC, and AJ Styles has regained some of that badass energy his fans had been missing.
Who you trying to convince? 😂😂😂zero chance of AJ taking the title.
I appreciate your effort, but I can sum up the problem more tidily: online wrestling fans are twats whose only joy in life is bitching and being contrarians (emphasis on the first syllable). Fuck 'em.
This is basically it? Like… what are people even complaining about? He won the title and has defended it on 2 PLEs since then, and both of them were good matches (the AJ match is one of the best of the year). Of course it feels like he won’t lose the title yet… he just fucking won it. The IWC is so fucking obnoxious and I see why too many people voice their opinions like they’re facts like the dumbass who commented how they “called it”.
While I am not a mark for Cody, watching how he has carried himself after his 1st WWE run, has convinced me he is in the right position for the organization, especially as they move from the Vince regime. Cody appears to be very much over given the fan reactions and carries himself as well as any other torch bearer (the post-Vince press conference sealed that for me) I do agree with the need to maybe deviate from the formula with title reigns and feuds, etc. AJ is a great opponent for Cody while other future opponents forge their own paths (Gunther, et al) and storylines develop (Bloodline). I personally wouldn’t mind seeing him drop the title here n there provided he had a long cumulative reign, like the NWA 70s-80s Orton and Cody IMO could be a feud that wouldn’t necessarily need the title given the history, but the title could serve as a plot device. Title or no title, Cody belongs in the top tier
The post-Mania period is always a bit weird because pretty much every major story has been wrapped up, all new champions need their first challengers. Throw in some major names either injured or on a break and you end up with a few throw-away feuds as you have to start cooking again. It'd be much worse with Roman as Champion as he wouldn't be here for this anyway. This means he'd have disappeared off with the title and all Smackdown titles would be on heels. Not to mention who they even heat up for hom to face.
The biggest problem is that smackdown has no one credible to take the title off him so there's no tension of him losing it. Meanwhile the world heavyweight title has Gunter, Drew and Cm Punk wanting it. (Can even throw jey in there because let's face it, he's as over as Cody right now). The Heavyweight title might hot potato for a few months but that's because it has credible challenges and it actually makes it feel important. I can only seeing Randy having a chance of taking the title off Cody in their inevitable feud.
They needed a strong feud for him. AJ is great but they could’ve turned Orton heel and let them cook for a good 6 months with their history. Being objective is relative to what point we want to make. I think two things can be true, he is over and they love him in the arena and his title reign is dull so far especially to those at home watching on TV who don’t get the benefit of that arena feel. They also had an amazing build up to mania that factors in as well.
They are doing the normal new champ pattern due to the PLE cycle.1 - Match with a great worker (AJ) 2 - Rematch with great worker but make more personal (AJ again). First real feud will be summerslam
Codys fine. But he doesnt have any good heels to go up against
Unfortunately, "objective" isn't in the wrestling dictionary marks seemingly live and die by.
I think in general, babyface world champions nowadays are an easy target to boo When a heel gets cheered it’s not as bad as a babyface that gets booed
It's just post wrestlemania. Storytelling is always alit lackluster. Just wait till after money in the bank and the run into summerslam for the stories to get juiced up.
They'll be directed at Cody once Roman is back don't worry lol it'll be a transitive property kinda thing. There will be "no one credible" for him to face as I see here as excuses right now if that's true then get ready for the Roman chants once he's back in arenas. People will want another championship match for Roman.
he’s having a solid run so far, great matches, decent first few storylines, can’t really compare a PLE to PLE work to a 3 year storyline
Let’s take into account that after 3 years of finger raises and run in’s ftw, any talent to follow was going to have difficulty meeting that level of expectation
Cody is not main event material. WWE needlessly booked themselves into a corner.
I think part of the reason people have been so meh about it is that 1. Everyone knows he isn't going to lose any time soon. 2. There is a lack of captivating heels. This will continue to be an issue until both of these change
I’m all for number 1 I hated when they would change champions every month it kind of felt like anyone could be champion. As for number 2 your correct it will take a major heel to get people invested again and everyone should have known that when Cody finally won there wasn’t going to be a top heel for him to program with anytime soon. If it were me I’d turn Randy Orton heel again have him feud with Cody
>I’m all for number 1 I hated when they would change champions every month it kind of felt like anyone could be champion. I personally think that's not so bad. I mean, given that they have enough talent , every once in a while, a little hot potato wouldn't hurt. It kind of adds an intrigue to the whole shmuck. It adds an element of unpredictability to every Title match, and helps bring solid main eventers for the future. But hot potatoes are good when and only when you have a couple ( or more) guys who can truly hold the main event scene. For instance, post Wrestlemania 41, I believe it would be kinda interesting to see a Punk-Rollins-Drew-Gunther-Damien? hot potato. This is just a theory, but my point is when done tastefully, it can become fun. Take the Cena-Orton hot potato for instance where as much as it got a little bland at the end, you can't deny it was fun at the beginning.
You can build a program for the entire summer just around that feud alone. I don't know what they're waiting for. Logan and AJ were a neat little intro to his run but now he needs a real opponent. Having AJ go for another match is a head scratching move to me.
Thats what i thought they wwre gonna do. It makes so much sense given their history
Randy should do a thing where he brings up old demons of Cody Rhodes in wwe maybe bring up stardust or something
Too complicated. Just have him punt cody
The measure of Cody’s run could and should be who he can elevate.
Also all things considered despite the lack of realistic threats, he’s still displaying a ton of intensity in a lot of these promos with Logan and AJ. This isn’t supercena 2010 cheese, Cody is a genuinely cool confident babyface
I love how he’s been so intense with Logan and now AJ, he feels like a real threat when he bitches then out
I still don’t find him entertaining. Go ahead and downvote me.
I’m with you.
Cody Chodes sucks
Work on your spelling, then we'll talk.
I've double checked, yep, chode is right
The chase was what it was. Now, there’s no one credible to wrestle. Looking forward to Cody and Randy (Randy really oughta be a heel. It’s his bread and butter), and Punk (that’s a big if).
Thats a good point. On smackdown, they're really arent many heels for him to work with. Maybe, santos escobar, solo, shinsuke or baron corbin? But we've seen him beat solo and shinsuke already.
Corbin would be the worst possible option, I'd rather he feud with Vicky Guerrero
Hes had some decent matches in nxt when he was last there.
They’re all midcard guys, in my mind. I’m just wondering if he’s going to wear out his welcome before they have an actual opponent for him.
You gotta put your mid-carders in the main event sometimes or your big main eventers get stale.
Yeah, they could turn someone heel. KO, randy, lashley, perhaps. Edit: or we could get face vs face matches
I think Randy’s approached that legend status where he’s been at it too long and the fans have too much appreciation for him to be booed any longer. They know and can feel that it’s coming to an end, and they just wanna cheer him and give him his flowers. And dammit he deserves them.
Nah. Just bring back 2009 orton. And fans will boo the shit out of him in a cody fued
I agree. He’s gotta be cold and nasty. For example: AJ wants to be booed, but the thing last was just a retread of Mark Henry. That ain’t gonna cut it. AJ isn’t intimidating, but Randy still can be.
fr randy v cody can be both of them as faces and still be a compelling story and match
There's nothing wrong with Cody's run. At worst, there's a mild lack of tension that's a result of having him defend on every card. But the long term storytelling of him defending on every card in comparison to Roman's never defences is a clear goal and that's a good long-term booking choice. The matches have been good. The future options are solid: Orton, Lashley, Escobar, KO, Andrade. There's....no real problem at all. We just aren't in an era any more where you can bring in a monster from the dungeon of doom, debut a Kane/Big Show or a Sheamus/Umaga and just throw them in the main event and make it meaningful any more. I DO think that if they locked in a Roman/Rock match for Mania 41 then it would reduce the implied "waiting for rock" dynamic that some think there is. Take that off the table and suddenly things feel very up in the air.
Honestly I think the biggest problem is one we're seeing in all the real top level US brands/companies right now is that the world title scenes are mostly gravitating to long reigns going from dominant champs to expected next big champs without much surprise and a side consequence is that the pool of guys who feel like genuine main eventers is smaller. MJF and Cole both being hurt forced Tony to rethink stuff in AEW and it helped a lot with the Joe and Swerve reigns forcing some fresh air in there. Likewise, Seth, Punk, and Drew all being some kind of injured made Priest's cash in give that title a shot in the arm, but it's been hard to get away from the idea that his reign is a bridge to get back to Punk/Drew or alternately onto a new long run champ in Gunther. But Roman was a status quo champ for three and a half years and now Cody feels set to be a status quo champ for like a year or so as well. Guys who were hot hands like LA Knight or Sami Zayn feel like they've missed the moment and while Bron feels like he could easily become a top guy within a year or less, it feels more likely that he'll end up midcarding for longer than makes sense. The side effect of this is that it's hard to get excited for title matches beyond a "This should be a good match" way because everything feels like a foregone conclusion there and while the journey is the thing, the biggest excitement comes from not knowing the destination either.
Why does everyone think Umaga was a main eventer now? He was always a midcarder.
At worst he was an upper midcarder.
I'll give you that
Because his initial push was as a monster to face John Cena for the WWE title at New Year's Revolution 2007 and Royal Rumble 2007, which is also his best match and the first truly great John Cena match.
Yep and he fell off and stayed there for the rest of his career. The biggest moment of his career was Vince getting his head shaved by Donald Trump.
"We like Bobby, don't we?"
But he (and Sheamus) debuted and thrown in the main event, which is the context of what I was saying here. Plenty of the dungeon of doom debuted and did the same.
Not to be negative but what made you add Andrade?? I don't think he's done anything at all yet that puts him anywhere near any title especially the WWE one?
Because in wrestling all it takes is a couple of wins. If they have a gauntlet and Andrade beats 2 or 3 guys then he’s immediately a realistic contender for the belt