Current State of WWE: It's Time to Focus on Roman vs Cody & Bayley vs Iyo Heating Up

This is WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to the WWE podcast, the
show, the one that everybody wants me tell you sixteen Just your ass is
modern, you can acknowledge me. It is Monday, March eighteenth, twenty
twenty four. We are going to be doing another episode here of the current
state of WWE as we are two weeks in change away from WrestleMania forty.
Unbelievably, it just creeps up on you. And tonight we've got a couple
of things that we're going to talk about. One side of this is going
to be the men's side of things, and as you'd imagine, it's going
to be rock centered, but baby, we'll put a different twist on this.
And then the other side of the coin is going to be about the
women's with Bailey. So I think we'll have a nice diverse conversation here and
welcome back, of course, every week Anthony DeMarco is here to join us
to talk about this as we are, man just two and a half weeks
away from WrestleMania forty. It's crazy how how fast the calendar has flipped into
WrestleMania season. And you see the cards start to be rounded out, and
I mean before we dive into the Rock and Cody and maybe eventually branch off
into the women's side of things. How do you feel about the card with
you know, two and a half weeks out. I feel pretty good.
I mean, sure, we could have gotten Brock and Gunther, you know,
and then there's the Sammy debacle and people wanting Chad Gable, but I
think ultimately that Gunther is gonna have, as he always does, a phenomenal
match with Sammy's ain. You know, You've got the women's side of things
with Becky and Rhea. That's a little underwhelming. We've gone over that before
and it still feels kind of blase a to me. You know. Obviously,
the men's side of things with the World Heavyweight Championship that we talked about
last week with Drew and Seth is a match that I think doesn't have a
whole a ton of people talking. It's everything seems to be about Rock,
Roman, Seth and Cody. But to me, this is a match that
we really should keep our eye on. Of course, we got a floating
Damian Priest around to see if and when he cashes in. We've got l
A. Knight and AJ Styles. That to me, I think, even
though he's not in a title match, it is really a very good scenario
for l A. Knight to position himself on the card in a match with
LA Knight. And there's not too many singles matches right now. The triple
threat of course with Logan Paul and Kevin Owens and Randy Orton is I think
going to be very exciting, you know so honestly, like, I look
at the card and I'm good with it. I mean, there's improvements that
I would like to make, absolutely, but I look up and down the
card and I'm generally feeling I'm feeling like this is WrestleMania. I'm feeling like
I'm ready to go. I mean, it's not perfect. I'm not a
ten out of ten out of excitement, but I think I'm in a good
place for WrestleMania. How about you. Yep, I'm looking forward to it
too. I like the high profile matches that are have no title on the
line, as you alluded to LA Knight versus AJ Styles. I know that
a lot of people had LA Knight penciled in for the United States Championship,
but you know, I do think that they've done maybe not a poor job
of building this because I'm invested in AJ Styles in La Knight and they've certainly
built it for several months, but maybe just I would have liked a bit
more screen time. I think I saw a stat today that La Knight has
had like a minute and a half of screen time since Elimination Chamber. And
I know that on SmackDown it is a shorter show. You're trying to cram
everything in, and like if you take away the bloodline segments, you basically
have an hour and a half to play with the rest of the with the
rest of the card. But I think that La Knight being positioned against a
seasoned veteran like AJ Styles is arguably more important. And look at AJ styles
his there's two WrestleManias with w W or in general there is no other WrestleMania,
but his first two WrestleManias were non title matches, the first against Chris
Jericho, the second against Shane McMahon. So I mean, maybe that's kind
of something that they're like kind of like good what's the word I'm looking for.
I guess apropos if that's what it is. If that's the correct term.
But I'm not too disappointed with much. I'm interested to see how a
six team ladder match will go. I don't think I've ever seen a twelve
person match as far as ladders are involved. And I mean, I am
still waiting to see what happens with Beyonca bell Air. You know, two
and a half weeks out. I really hope she hasn't settled with the Women's
Battle Royal, and you know, you and I have both been vocal about
the fact that we would want her to be in Becky's spot. So I
think the only thing at this point that I'm kind of discouraged about is Beyonc
bell Air's placement or lack thereof. Yeah right now, but we I mean,
they have to be positioning her one on one against somebody. We all
believe it's Jade Cargill. I think it is too. There's just no other
position for her right now. And you wouldn't put somebody who's one of the
faces of the two K brand this year and not have them have a one
on one match. I mean, it's it's almost guaranteed. So I think
Jade Cargill and Bianca bell Air are going to be featured. I think that's
a very good matchup, at least visually. We'll see how it is an
execution given the body type and how similar they are. And you know,
it's gonna be power versus power, and it's gonna be a fun match,
you would hope, So that'll be fun, And you're right. I mean,
having a twelve person match that's almost half of a Royal Rumble in a
ladder match at once, it's it's like ridiculous. So I mean it's ridiculous
in the sense there's so many people. It may work out just fine,
but boy, I don't envy having to call that match. There's gonna be
so much going on all the time. I mean, it's gonna be exhausting
to call it. It is gonna be a car crash in the best possible
way. And I think that it ultimately will probably have early prediction probably the
miss and awesome truth or miss and are Truth win it and have a judgment
day lose, But again early call, we don't know the rest of the
team. So yeah, overall, I mean it's it is exciting. There
are some mysterious people that are off, like Bobby Lashley, who has really
fallen off the radar as of late. You know, Santransescobar doesn't have a
match yet, and he's been a nice addition and a really good heel turn
that's cooled off because of a lack of attention. But to your point with
l A. Knight, I mean, yeah, he's gotten no almost no
screen time, but boy has popped. This past week was a lot of
fun to listen to. It seems like he still has the fans, not
the Levely did with Roman Reigns, but given the fact that they've almost given
him no screen time, he still has a hell of a connection with the
fans. So even post Mania, and you know, maybe in a future
episode we can talk about this before Forty's over. Is you know, what
about post WrestleMania. What does the post WrestleMania forty landscape look like? You
know, because so many people are just going to forty and not discussing beyond.
So as I'm thinking about it, maybe we can remember next week or
the week after before forty to talk to use that as one of our discussion
points, but to focus specifically and kind of hone in on one of our
topics. Tonight, Cody Rhodes has been obviously and should be rightfully, with
the being the World Rumble winner, the focal point of Raw and SmackDown.
Now he's gonna be on SmackDown next week with Roman there no Rock. Rock
appears to be totally done until WrestleMania forty, unless there's a surprise appearance they
want to bring him in whatever. And we obviously had that amazing Rock concert,
and we have Cody Rhodes who is crying now on TV or pretending to
cry on TV, and Rock made fun of him for it. But to
your question that we talked about before the show started, does this feel more
like Cody versus The Rock then it does Cody versus Roman Reigns, And I'll
let you take the first crack at that. It's starting to feel like that,
right because they haven't really done much to develop the rivalry between Roman and
Cody directly ever since that pres event. It's mainly been building Rock versus Cody,
so much so that Cody even challenged The Rock to a one on one
match. And I haven't really like even Roman Reigns specifically, there hasn't been
much substance to any of his promos, like to actually further along the story,
like, yes, he's got some funny lines, he's done his greatest
hits with Acknowledge Me and Tribal Chief and all that, but Roman Reigns and
seth rawlins. I find in this particular program, I've almost kind of taken
a back seat. And maybe that's because you're trying to make the people care
about this new heel version of the Rock, which is understandable, but at
what cost? Which is weird, right because for three and a half four
years we have been talking about, well, at what cost are you gonna
position Roman Reigns as the end all be all in WWE? It's good content,
but what are you sacrifice? And now it kind of feels like Roman
Reigns, and by extension, his feud with Cody Rhodes is being sacrificed a
little bit. And I'm almost starting to think, like, are they building
more towards the tag team match on the first night than the main event of
the second night for the Undisputed Championship? And you should never feel that the
Undisputed Championship, or you could argue that any championship should be playing second fiddle
to a non title tag team match. And obviously there's a lot on the
line for the tag team match. You have the four biggest stars in the
injury involved seth rawlins as the other World Champion is like right in the thick
of things. So it isn't a traditional everyday tag match. But I just
feel like, and again this I said this last week, that the execution
of everything they're doing gets me interested. In the moment, I'm still loving
all of this. But when I take a step back and I look at
the macro view in the direction, I'm saying to myself, like, man,
are we forgetting about the undisputed Championship match between Cody and Roman, Because
at times I often do. It's a fair point and the Rock every time
he's there does suck the energy and the oxygen out of the room, and
not a bad way. He's the damn Rock who's killing it with this character
that I think is one of the best I guess diversions or I can't think
of the word, the versions. Yeah, there you go. It's one
of the best versions of the Rock that we've seen, and I've argued maybe
ever out of any of his characters. Yes, it's a Hollywood Rock,
but it's kind of an evolved version of the rock even beyond the two thousand
and three version that we didn't even get that long. I loved his music.
Let me just ask you that quick. I gotta ask, do you
like that new version of his music that starts out like it's the typical version
of you know, the rock from fifteen years that we've seen it to the
Hollywood Rock? Did you enjoy that? I really did, because it came
out of nowhere, literally like it just like it was like an archaeout of
nowhere. And when the be kind of dropped, I think in the back
you kind of heard like an old version of like the rock says like,
and that it leaned into the two thousand and three Hollywood version of the rock
and nor that theme song rather, and we spoke about it last week.
I believe that like it's almost like a Pavlovian reaction that when you hear the
classic rock music, people will cheer and you still have the I guess the
classic intro of if You Smell, which will spark that reaction. But when
it comes down into like I think it's actually called It's conquered this version and
it gets to like that slow beat and he can slowly saunter to the ring
instead of his typical up paced tempo. It really kind of set the entire
tone and look, people were still freaking out. I was watching it with
my buddy and we both marked out like we were ten years old again because
of how awesome it was with the lightning bolt. So yeah, I'm really
liking it, and it certainly adds to the character. It just I loved
it. I mean, I saw some reaction videos. People were freaking out.
I mean, and I understand why. I just I mean, I
didn't jump around, but I did. I marked out as well, and
I just it's that moment that you just you feel like a kid again,
like you said, because it was what how many years ago? Twenty one
years ago? We got that theme and it's a little bit of a remix,
but that's fine with me. The only thing I would add is before
they transition from his current to that beat drop, I would just do like
is cook it, yeah, and then from like the old version. So
we'll see if that gets added or if anything else continues, because his entrance
every week has kind of evolved a little bit, and I'm liking it.
The lightning bolts are awesome. Typically that kind of stuff looks cheesy. I
love it. The Rock is just I mean he even smiled. You heard
the crowd pop when that music hit. I mean he just loved it.
And he played a baby face this week. He can kind of do whatever
he wants. I think people are enjoying this more than they even thought they
would. Even the people that hated The Rock for stepping in on Cody's toes
are loving this. So this is being positioned perfectly for a Rock babyface turning
an official all the way turned for the Rock. At some point, he
could even keep this character. He doesn't need to go back to that version
that he was, you know, so over so many years. So but
back to the original focus here, I think that Cody roads in and the
Rock does feel like something that it's been focused on. But with the Rock
there, you kind of have to build to that tag team match because if
he's not going to be there the final three weeks before WrestleMania, you don't
have a whole lot of time to build with the Rock. You got to
make the most of it. So I think given they have three shows of
SmackDown left, there's a lot they could still do with Cody and Roman as
long as Roman's freaking there. Like Roman needs to be there, no excuses,
no f ns or butts. He needs to be there the next three
weeks because they can do like video packages leading into an interview, leading into
maybe even a Rock Austin type of sit down interview in the back like they
did before WrestleMania seventeen. There's a lot they could do in three weeks time
to get us much more focused on Rock or rather Cody and Roman reigns.
And I think that just a little bit of promo time and some video packages,
nobody needs to attack each other. It's just straight up promo and getting
Paul and Hayman involved. I think they could really kind of change that feeling
around in just three weeks time. Yeah, I agree, And like I
said, the execution of everything has been hitting out of the park. The
only thing I will say is I think it's gone on a bit too long.
Like the raw concert. I found like it dragged, Like I feel
like every segment with the Rock could be shaved, like you could shave off
five minutes. But that's me nitpicking. But I do, like I understand
you had to invest a lot of time and a lot of I guess screen
time and not to sound redundant into developing this raw character, this new version,
getting people to understand it care about it. So that had to come
at the sacrifice of Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, because we already have that
built in story between Roman and Cody. You have the built in story between
Seth and Roman, and Seth and Cody, who are also featured on Monday
Night Raw, so they're getting like double screen time some weeks. So I
completely understand that you had to give The Rock the most screen time and the
most mic time to develop this newfound character. But this was always the inherent
risk when you were gonna shoehorn the Rock into the main event, was that
it was going to have to come at the sacrifice of something else, And
in this instance it has been Roman Reigns, not so much Cody, because
like I just said, Cody has a home on Monday Night Raw. But
it's come of Roman Reigns. And the only thing is, like, it's
not that I'm upset that the Rock is getting this spot, but it's almost
like it's given Roman Reigns like a pass not to be there, like,
look over here, we have The Rock now, and it's going to completely
excuse the fact that our world champion isn't at every single SmackDown a month out
from WrestleMania, and it's not acceptable. Like Roman Rain, I saw a
stat that The Rock has had more TV appearances in twenty twenty four than Roman
Reigns, Like, are you serious? The Rock has been on TV more
than the world champion, the most popular star in the world, the owner
and founder of multiple businesses, whether it be tequila, he just launched like
a skin product, the xfl zoa whatever it is, and he's on and
he's been on even more than Roman Reigns. So maybe it's not necessarily a
criticism of The Rock, because I have loved the execution, but it's more
maybe me just once again driving home the fact that you got get that title
off of Roman Reigns. And well, I think you brought up a good
point because The Rock has been a great deodorizer for the constant problem of Roman
not being there. I mean, because no one's even talking about it.
I've even been distracted by it because of how big of a star of The
Rock is. It feels like a big deal. When he's there, he's
been entertaining his hell. Sure as segments have been a little long, I
agree, but it's the Rock, so you like he's got to let it
go, you know. But I agree it is a little long in the
tooth. But you have Roman Reigns who's not there and continues to not be
there. But people have been distracted with good reason and not even realize that,
Oh wow, wait a minute. WrestleMania forties, how many weeks away
and we still don't have Roman on nearly every show this is and it's just
unacceptable period. There's just no reason for it. I don't want to hear
that. Well, it's built into his contract. No, you can always
adjust in amend contracts and pay him more to be there, and it'd be
worth that investment, no doubt. So they also need to get it straight.
Is it the Universal Championship? Is it the ww They change names now
again. I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, like the Rock
has just landed on Universal. I think the announcer Corey Graves called it the
WWE Universal Championship, but then some people call it the WWE, Like we
need to land on a name. It needs to be just the undisputed championship.
Can we all just agree that it should just be the undisputed I e.
From two thousand and two? Can we just pretend? I mean,
I don't know so, but outside of those little nitpicks, I mean,
yeah, now it's time. It is time to focus on Cody and Roman
reigns. It's time for promos, it's time for video packages. It's time
for the battle of of promos between Roman and Cody. Sure, I mean,
I guess they could do physicality, but that's what this needs. It
needs a kick in the ass. Because it's all about Night one. You're
like, oh wait a minute, that's right. These guys are going to
have a championship match on night two to close the show, and it all
is but guaranteed that Cody's gonna win, especially when the Rock said you are
not going to get another opportunity. I'll make sure it happens if you lose.
So that's kind of like, oh, well, that's like, you
know, for sure Cody winning that just ice is the cake. But hey,
I think overall this has been a resounding success despite our criticisms about the
evolution of this program. I think it has been a success up to this
point, and now I'm really looking forward to Cody and Roman and the story
from last year and Paul Hayman's words and that kind of thing. I'm really
looking forward to it. And I'm still of the belief it's probably gonna be
bloodline rules when it all is said and done, They're probably gonna want that
creative freedom to make it bloodline rules, even if that's not obviously the best
option. Yeah, one hundred percent. And it always leaves that door to
be opened of overbooking. But there is that fine line where you could quote
overbook it, but just to the right level. And look, you have
three smackdowns to your point, right, we have three smackdowns before WrestleMania.
You have three smackdowns to completely invest in Cody and Roman and rekindling that magic
and rekindling that story. Because I think at this point, you have a
reason to be invested as to why Seth is involved, you have a reason
to be invested as to why the Rock is involved. And you put in
a lot of legwork into developing that character, giving them enough mic time,
giving them enough screen time in addition to a social media post and for Seth.
You also have him now be freed up to develop his program against Drew
McIntyre. So you have three smackdowns now to hone in directly on Cody Roads
and Roman Reigns. And that's more than enough time because to your point,
they did this a lot. They did this dance last year, and last
year there was no tag match on night one, there was no set there
was no Roman, so they don't have to develop as much. There's the
built in story, the groundwork's already been laid. There's already that bad blood
between the two. So just because at this point we can nitpick here and
there, doesn't mean that it's the end of the road. They've kind of
really mapped out this thing properly and gave The Rock maybe the first nine and
now on the back nine you can invest completely into Roman and Cody Rhodes.
Because, like you said, even if The Rock doesn't appear on television between
now and WrestleMania, I think that they've done what they've had to do right,
Like, if The Rock doesn't show up until Night one, do you
think that would hurt them at all? Or do you think at this point
they've done enough to investing in developing into his character that people should be invested
no matter what. I think people are invested, no matter what. The
only backlash are going to be from live audiences that crossed their fingers that The
Rock's going to be there in surprise, you know, into surprise fashion,
and that he's going to be there. All he's been on the smack Down,
he's beoun smacked down the last few weeks. He kind of get used
to him being there and all of a sudden weight he's not in my city.
I have to sit and watch on a Titan tron. So you're gonna
have some annoyed like live crowds for the next three weeks that they don't get
the Rock. Now, it's possible he shows up the final SmackDown before and
they decide to change things. But I don't need the Rock. In fact,
I hate I'm reluctant to say we don't need the Rock or want the
Rock right now because he's done everything he needs to do to build to that
tag match. He said everything he needs to say everything through Twitter, which
or x which has been I mean like every time he talks it's fifteen to
twenty minutes. Now we've gotten in everything, we need to hear and see
from him. So I think that they could run video packages for the next
three weeks and we'd be just fine with it, because the focus should be
on the damn title match that the fans said that they wanted over Rock Roman.
This is what you said you wanted. So let's build to the match
that we all, well we in quotes wanted for WrestleMania forty. The story's
there, like he said, it's just building on last year. Now what
does this mean to Cody? You know, what is he going to do
to mitigate the Bloodline rules? What is he going to do if he did
if he fails the tag team match? What is his plan? You know?
Does he hint at he has you know, he has friends in the
business quote unquote, which would lead to maybe in Austin, maybe a scene
of maybe all those things that, like you said, it's a very fine
line and overbooking there, But like, what's his plan? You know,
what's his plan to make sure that the Bloodline if he wins the tag match,
actually abide by those rules and we don't have some funky way of them
finding a loophole through it. I mean, those kinds of things you can
address. So I think Cody Rhoades has some material to work with now.
He also is going to be on RAW, so don't forget he's not just
coming to be an unsmackdown maybe the next three weeks at least next week,
but he's also gotten money at RAW to sit and talk about it and maybe
we get a surprise appearance from Roman there. I mean, we keep thinking
it's only one way where Cody could go to SmackDown. What if Cody's on
UNRAW in the next three weeks, He's in a match ending the show and
some kind of main event, and we have Roman Reigns, you know,
come back and beat him down. The Bloodline beats them down on RAW.
I mean, we keep thinking the Bloodline can't ever appear on RAW, but
I guess they could. Yeah, No, they have that creative freedom now,
especially with the you know, you could have the Raw playing on the
fact that he's on the board of directors to get them over to Monday Night
Raw, or Paul Hayman as the Special Council pulling strings. Like I really
think that they have enough shows here to completely get us reinvested into Cody and
Roman reigns, and in my opinion, I think that they have a possibility
here to make us more invested in this match than their match a year ago,
because a year ago it did kind of feel a bit forced, it
did kind of feel a bit predictable. But now I'm saying thinking to myself,
like, because of the wrinkle of the bloodline the night one, it's
almost got me wanting this match more, which I never thought I would have
said, like, maybe this was their plan, Like, maybe I'm giving
all this criticism, but it was all by design to get me wanting Cody
versus Roman, because maybe they sensed a bit of apathy from some fans towards
Cody versus Roman because maybe how predictable it perhaps was, or some fans not
being completely behind Cody or being sick of Roman reigns. So maybe the Rock
and Sets heavy involvement through the last month or so was a way to really
get people like you and I, or maybe me more specifically, into caring
about this one on one match. So the more we kind of talk it
out here, the more I just have to give them their flowers and say
they've really knocked us out of the park, no doubt. About it.
I mean, we cannot like the Cody character but still be excited for the
story. I mean, not him finishing his story, but at least recognize
when a story is really well told, like you know, those two things
can be true at the same time. And I think that that's what's happening
here. Despite the fact we despise the babyface character, they've done a nice
job of building sympathy for Cody, of bringing his family as always into the
story. The fans seem to be on board with it all the way here.
They haven't floundered with his support at all since he debuwed at WrestleMania thirty
eight against Seth two years ago. I just don't want to hear one person
after Cody wins that championship say, oh, that was predictable, that was
stupid. That was But I don't want to hear anyone say that. I
don't want to hear anybody who has been bitching about the Roman Reigns run or
the Cody Roads being screwed last year and you know, WW try to screw
him again this year if it wasn't for the fans, I don't want to
hear one person if he wins and should win the belts from Romans say,
man, I would have loved it if it wasn't so predictable. That's nonsense
like that, that is the one time you don't get that pass because this
is what everyone has wanted forever and it will end the run of Roman Reigns.
So you can't have both of those things. You can't bitch about Roman's
run that he needs to drop it then also bitch that, oh, well
it was a you know, it's so predictable that Cody Roads won that.
You know, have you seen any of these I guess reports, Well,
no reports, but maybe they just like fanboards that suggest that people regret all
that vitriol of forcing Cody Roads into the main event because of how much the
liking the heel version of the Rock and how badly received Cody Rhodes crying on
my net raw was last week. And it's like, you know, I
still don't think it was the bad decision because now after seeing Heel Rock,
I don't know if I would have wanted to see baby Face clash sick Dwayne
Johnson Rock versus Roman Reigns because I had been saying for a bit that I
was getting a little sick of the Rocks just cookie cutter greatest hits promos,
the ones that he did against Austin Theory and Ginger Mahal. So. I
had been saying I wanted a heal version of the Rock for quite some time.
But for a lot of fans like I wonder, like, are is
there any regret you think into all that vitual and like kind of forcing WWE
to pivot if in fact that they were going with the Rock versus Roman in
the early stages. No, I think really even if I was, if
I was a Cody cribaby and I was the one complaining, and then I'm
so proud of myself for them being, you know, of collectively putting our
voices together and forcing WWE to change their plans, and I'm like, hooray,
we did it. But now we've got a rock that's moreover, well,
it's a win win here. I don't see a losing side. I
really don't see, even for people on the other side like you and me
who wanted Rock versus Roman. Albeit now that we've seen what awesome version of
the Rock we're getting in twenty hindsight, we can all say, oh man,
thank God, we didn't know. I didn't know if I wanted that
version of the Rock that we've gotten for fifteen years. But if we got
it, we wouldn't have known that this version existed. It's still so like
we wouldn't have known what we didn't know, and we wouldn't have known that
they would have dared turn the Rock heel and gotten this brilliance that we've seen
now. So we would have just been accepting and maybe it would have still
been okay with the build up and his insults that we've heard for fifteen years
of this version of the Rock, and that's fine. We've all been like,
hey, it's a mega match, this is a mega match. Look,
it's family, it's head of the table on the line and all that.
Like, we probably would have accepted it given the magnitude of the match.
But in hindsight, I think that what the Cody fans have done is
actually giving us the best version of the Rock we could have possibly gotten.
You're getting the match that I actually think is a better story match in Cody
versus Roman, giving us a much better chance of Roman dropping the belt than
if Rock faced them, And you're also giving us still we're gonna get Rock
and Roman down the line, probably in WrestleMania forty one or maybe SummerSlam.
I mean, so it's still happening. Everything we want is still happening,
except we're getting an ultra entertaining Rock. You're gonna get Cody versus Roman.
Everyone seems to be happy. I mean, I just don't see the downside
to what's happened. And I didn't think that this is possible, which is,
like you said, why I need to just kind of, like you
said, give the respect where it's doing. Give ww credit for everything that
they've been able to maneuver so far. Do you think that there's any possibility
that this was their plan all along? Or do you think originally they were
going just for Babyface Rock versus Roman. You know that is I mean,
you and I have talked about it. How it does it really matter?
But it kind of does in WWE trying to give themselves credit for this,
because they'll never admit that this wasn't their plan until, you know, maybe
later in a documentary you'll hear it from Triple Ah, you know, one
of the creative Tom or Bruce Pritchet or somebody, you know that that's possible.
We'll eventually know, but in the moment, they would never admit that
they didn't want to do this until they did it and go, wow,
this is a much better idea. I think originally they meant for just babyface
Rock versus Roman. That was and they made they tested the waters with the
original promo of the Rock saying and maybe I'll go out to a bar and
send in a booth and maybe I will sit at the head of the table,
and the crowd went crazy, and then they said, okay, full
steam ahead and let's take the next step, and Rock comes out and now
the infamous version of edition of SmackDown where he comes out and supersedes Cody.
Cody steps aside, he has that kind of awkward handshake, and then everybody's
like feeling bad for Cody that that moment turned the whole thing. But I
don't think they meant to do that, because it was supposed to be Cody
going okay, I understand, being that kind of this nice guy that he
is, and he walks up the ramp and we're all still in with Rock
and Roman until the backlash on Twitter started. So I don't think that this
was the plan because there's too many possibilities of the fans not going along with
you along the way. There's too many twists and turns. You're over complicating
it if this was the original plan, So I think it was just No,
I don't think it was. So. One thing that you've said a
lot is that Rock Roman or not every big match need sapen at WrestleMania,
And I think a lot of people forget that. You know, Randy Oran's
first World Championship came at SummerSlam. Rock Versus Rock came at SummerSlam, Like,
do you think that this is a Slam dunk for wrestling next year?
Do you think there's a possibility through all of this that we could see the
Rock Versus Roman reigns in Summerslim? Because for me, I'm thinking that the
Rock has committed to a year, probably all the way until Wrestme at forty
one and then he hangs them up. But I'm wondering, like what they
actually have planned here? Who will be the baby face? Because the other
part about this is like the Rock is so awesome right now as a heel,
could you turn him back babyface after only three months? Like I know
that the story would traditionally probably be better with the rock as the baby face
in Roman as a heel. But I'm thinking to myself, like, man
like, I don't know if I want to see a babyface version of the
rock anymore. I don't think they would, honestly, Okay, so two
questions there, I don't I wouldn't change the rock at all. He's getting
a massive reaction, and he got cheered this week and the fans were going
along with it, and he was just him himself that he's been other than
insulting the crowd. But the crowd almost laughs every time he does it because
it's almost like a term of endearment when he does it, because it's so
funny telling people go smoke crack and being in the largest collection of trailer park
trash he's ever set. Like that kind of stuff is hilarious. It's not
truly personally insulting. So I honestly don't think that they should change a thing
from his music to his outfits. They found a brilliant formula of this version
of the rock in twenty twenty four that still gets a massive reaction. I
wouldn't change him back to that kind of vanilla version of him and you know,
just a cut off black Tea and going back to the original music.
I would keep this version that's working and just have Roman beat him down after
WrestleMania, after they lose their tag team match, after Roman maybe drops the
belt, the bloodline completely turns on. The Rock beats him down. And
what I've heard is as far as when this happens, apparently the Rock has
a If this is true, it seems this isn't coming from just one source.
It seems many that The Rock has a movie he's filming from May to
August, so there'll be a three or four month chunk of time that he
won't be able to do anything in the ring, or if he does,
it's like promo stuff sending in it or not actually in ring. So if
that's true, that means there's no Summer Slam. If there's no Summer Slam,
that means it's only WrestleMania after that. So if that's what I'm hearing,
so it doesn't seem like SummerSlam as I'm thinking about, it is even
a possibility if he's filming a movie in the middle of the summer. Side
note, do you not feel like SummerSlam has had the wind taken out of
its sales over the last ten years or so. While they're trying to make
it stadium shows, I mean the stadium they're trying to make it the summer
or the WrestleMania of the summer. Right that they're trying to I guess,
in what way do you feel it has? Well? Like? Look like
I remember when I was a kid, right, Like, the first Summerslime
I ever watched was wrestling wrestling a Summerslime two thousand of Triple H versus the
Rock versus Kurd Angle for the WWF Championship, and there's like that underlying story
of Kurt Angle versus versus Triple H with Stephanie McMahon making it the Love Triangle.
Then two thousand and one you have the Rock defeat Booker t for the
WCW Championship and Kurt Angle versus Stone Cold Sea Boston for the WWF Championship.
Two thousand and two you have the Rock versus brock Lesnar, one of the
biggest matches of all time. Then in two thousand and three you have the
second ever elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship with Goldberg and Kevin Natch.
I believe that was Kevin Nash's last match ever in WWE HBK Jericho Triple
Ah Shawn Mike I said that twice Randy Orton. Sorry, two thousand and
four, you have Randy Orton win his first ever World Championship against Chris Benoit.
All this to say is that I felt that back then, it legitimately
did feel like the wrestling of the Summer and Royal Rumble was almost in third
place at times, I guess a matter of preference, but there were big
match feels at SummerSlam, and I just feel like now and it's not like
this every year, Like obviously you have Suplex City of Brock versus John Cena
a decade ago in twenty fourteen, but I feel like every single Summer Slam
you don't have that big fight feel like, yeah, Brock versus Roman reigns
in the street fight was certainly awesome where it was last man's standing actually,
but this past year I thought it was a very big letdown, arguably one
of the worst trip of eighth shows since he took over and had a creative
and just year over year, I don't feel that like big fight important feel
around SummerSlam, given the matches and the storylines going in. I see,
yeah, so yeah, it's just the general feeling we used to have for
SummerSlam versus what it is now exactly what I think they're trying to do.
I mean again, they're trying to apply a WrestleMania formula to a pay per
view that's not WrestleMania, and they're trying to say, well, more people
there means it's a bigger show, and that doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna be
a better show. It doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna feel like it's a better
show just because more people are there. Sure, it brings us certain energy,
it brings a certain feel to the show that I should feel like this
is bigger because there are more people here. But that doesn't always apply and
hasn't applied throughout the decades of WWE, where you could have knockout shows in
a twenty thousand person arena or even a ten thousand person arena, and it
doesn't need to be that always stadium shows are the biggest shows, because,
as you said, this past summer Slime that I remember that I remember thinking
to myself, this is the first event Triple H has been in charge of
solely that I come out going that was not great. It was eh,
Like I come out and I gave it like a I think it was like
a C C minus. I was like, that was not good, and
you know, obviously you're going to have those moments. I'm not blaming Triple
H. But sometimes it's also the fact that you just don't have the right
storylines reaching a boiling point at the right time. Sometimes you kind of just
throw people together that you may be rushing a story that you wanted to save,
or you know, just to fill up the card, or just the
execution of the story hasn't gone as planned. It just happens, you know.
I think that though right now we have the best roster that we've had
since the Ruthless Aggression era. I know that's a common take, but I
think it's true. At the same time, you look back at those two
thousand, two thousand and one, two thousand and two, two thousand and
three, and so on, those were all star rosters, as we all
know, coming out of the Greatest era that many people believe it was from
attitude into ruthless Aggression that you had all those megastars out of you know,
really like you couldn't probably put a roster together better than that, and maybe
we'll never see it again, but it was a different time. But you're
right it all it's really not about how many people are there that they're trying
to make us feel like it's the biggest party of the summer. It's about
the stories. It's about just basics, the things that never change. It's
emotional investment. It's how good are the stories, how good are the characters,
How good are the damn matches when they finally get together and have the
blowoff. So it's a really a lot of those things that matter, and
not necessarily the size of the stadium. Yeah, so as we kind of
get up against the cloud here, I don't want to breeze buy the WWE
Women's Championship of Bailey versus EO Sky. We obviously see the beatdown on SmackDown
this past week in the main event slot. I thought that was really good
booking and writing. On Triple H's part, I think you really have to
invest in making this feel important to your point. She was the women's champion,
she was the Women's Row Rumble winner, So just kind of by default
or tradition, she should take a kind of precedence over that of what's going
on on Monday Night Row with Becky and Rhea Ripley. But have you been
happy with the development of this program with the involvement of Dakota Kai and her
double turn on Bailey, Like, how have you felt about this going in
and what's your interest level life? I would say my interest level at first
was very low, and not just not because Bailey turning babyface wasn't interesting.
It's something that's absolutely needed for her. She's been in a back seat for
too long. She's too good to be in that back seat position for that
long, and she's essentially been in prison since she created that group in story,
since what Summer Slam two years ago, she's been imprisoned, and it
felt like she has always taken a back seat. We haven't seen the best
version that group has been at times just kind of just grown worthy where it's
just like, can this group please break up? We're done with this,
and they just kept pushing along with it, and now, you know,
after the turn happened on Bailey, I felt Okay, here we go.
I had just kind of an interest in it, and it has grown over
the weeks, But up until the last couple of weeks, I didn't really
have too much interest in this, and the fact that it main evented SmackDown
sends a message to the fans, Hey, we know the women's division exists.
Here, We're gonna pay attention to our Royal Rumble winner and her match
at WrestleMania here. And I think they're doing a nice job. They're putting
a ton of sympathy on Bailey. She has a little bit of help from
Naomi, who finally has something to do since her return, but you know
she's gonna need more help to balance out the number game here with you know,
the four members of Damage Control. Ultimately, though, I'm i'm,
my interest is growing at a steady pace, not in a rocket ship type
of trajectory, but in a kind of slow but steady progression that I hope
they continue for the next three weeks. Bailey right now needs to cut a
scathing promo. She needs to find that fire. I don't want to see
her anymore in the backstage interviews, which are effective, but I want to
see her like a fiery promo from Bailey. I don't want to see any
more of these kind of melodramatic ones. I'm ready for a fired up Bailey.
I'm ready for some support from the women backstage from her, and I
think it's also putting a lot of good heat on Damage Control. And I
had this conversation last night with Rocky Tea that you know, I think that
Bailey leaving the group was the best thing, not for Bailey but also just
for Bailey, but also for Damage Control, because with Bailey it almost feels
better without her in the group. Just as a group, they feel much
more I don't know, solidified in a way and it got too convoluted.
So I think they're doing a nice job and I hope it continues over the
next three weeks. Yeah, I mean, I think that just because of
Bailey, people are invested. I can speak to myself, just because she's
in my opinion, she's the most interesting women character on the Ross right now,
with the exception of Ria Ripley, especially with Bianca bell Air taking a
backseat and Charlotte being injured and Jake Cargill still not having been featured on television
aside for the Royal Rumble, and just Bailey's kind of organically gotten over in
like an endearing way, even as a heel in the tailor end well,
just right up until the Royal Rumble. But I do think that you have
to put more of an effort into trying to get her over in like beyond
just like the organic love for her, Like why do we care? Why
is this important? Do you draw on the fact that, like you were
the longest reigning women's champion. I think she had like some record that she
set before dropping the title in the fall of two thousand and twenty, So
I think that there they had some leeway and they had some good will built
in just because of the fans of love for Bailey. But I also think
you need to find a reason to care about EO Sky as champion and not
just damage control, because this feels like Bailey versus damage control and not Bailey
versus EO Sky. And I think that the turn that they had with Dakota
Kai, who I am expecting to turn back in some way, I'm just
expecting that. I feel like that almost hurt this a bit because you just
wanted the heavies of the Kabuki Warriors neutralized so you could zero in on Bailey
versus EO. But with Dakota turning and joining the group, it just kind
of added to the fact of that it was it's kind of like Bailey versus
the UH of damage Control, And maybe that's the language barrier because EO and
her can't really spar one on one on the mic. But I just really
want them to focus it on Bailey versus EO and kind of drop the damage
control stuff. You know, what I think they could do as I'm thinking
about it is implement the UH the Seth rollins in Shinskanaka Mura Dynamic. I
think that you know, and they have a little bit with the subtitles with
damage Control speaking, but eliminate Dakota Kai EO Sky, I'm sorry Dakota Kai
Kyrie saying and Oscar get rid of them just and have her just speak EO
Sky speak to Bailey with the subtitles. It was extremely effective with Shinskate.
It rejuvenated his entire career really UH and Seth and and shinsk were able to
have a very respectable fun program, And I think they could implement that formula
to some degree with Bailey and EO Sky. That I that that we know
is effective and I think it's a way to get us invested that you said.
As you said, there are so many other other players and characters in
this group, and now you've got Naomi helping her out. It does feel
kind of like Bailey is going to have a four on four tag team match
instead of a one on one with Eoski at WrestleMania. You know, it's
just like, I just need to find two more partners and instead it should
be focused on Yo Sky versus Bailey one on one. And I hope again
it's not over yet. I think, just like with Roman Reigns and Cody
Roads, that's been diluted a little bit with the Rock and the tag team
match, they now have three weeks to focus on the one on one match
that it should be because that's what's happening in WrestleMania. We're not getting a
tag team match with these women in WrestleMania. It's one on one. So
can we focus on these two women specifically and sure that the group is going
to continue to beat her down And that's fine, but you can at least
do the promo part of it with the one on ones. Even though there's
a language barrier. We know the formula to get over that. Yeah,
no for sure, and like we still have three weeks to go here,
and three weeks is a lot. And if you remove the Rock off of
SmackDown, even if you have Roman Reigns and Cody Rhods, like you probably
chopped that you know, time slot in maybe by you know, thirty three
percent, like I think fifteen twenty minutes for Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes and
probably twenty five percent of that is going to be Roman's entrance, I think
is enough. And you have some other things that you need to develop here,
like the Bailey and like the Bailey storyline obviously that we just went over.
I heard some rumblings that there's gonna be like a street fight between Kerry
and Cross and Bobby Lashley, and I really like both these groups. We've
spoken about our like for our love for Terry Karen Cross, or maybe not
love but just appreciation. But I find the build hasn't been great, especially
since they brought back the authors of Pain with Paul Ellering. But I think
they've been that storyline specifically has been has taken the most shrapnel from the Rock
and the bloodline. So maybe with the Rock being off TV, you can
invest more into that. I think La Night and AJ's styles to deserve more
of that investment. The tag team qualification matches seem to be living more so
on Monday Night Raw, which would make sense because they do have that extra
hour. So you have three smackdowns here with no Rock to really invest into
some of these storylines that don't have a lot of traction at this moment.
I think the one first and foremost should be the Women's Championship and combined,
when you think about how much time The Rock has taken up on the show
between video packages and actual inering segments over those three weeks, you could easily
get back an hour and a half of time. I mean, like you
really almost could. It's almost an additional show of SmackDown in time back that
otherwise would have been taken up if The Rock was there. So yeah,
this extra time that with the Rock not there, I think is going to
be very beneficial for programs, Like like you said, if Carrying Across and
Bobby Lashley come up with some kind of and it'll probably be a pre show
match, but nonetheless a match at WrestleMania, they could do that. You
know, obviously the Street profits don't have anything going on. Maybe they'll have
a tag team match with the Final Judgment or the Final Testament, so I
think that you could have that be a beneficiary as well as Bailey and Eosky
and of course Roman and Cody one on one. So yeah, we're gonna
get back to kind of normal, a normal SmackDown for the next three weeks
to see what and who they focus on with no Rock to take up thirty
minutes to show is going to be beneficial. And yeah, you're hearing a
lot of rumblings to backstage of the talent being angry about the rock there,
and which is every time you hear and see that, you know it just
it comes with the territory that all the legends come in and they take up
the time that we spend all year trying to get and it's I get it,
but you hear it every time, and then that the rock is cussing
and we can't cuss and when when wha, I'm sorry, I hear a
bunch of babies. I'm sorry. It's just like if you, if you,
if you, if that upsets you, not to cut you off and
just be better. I'm sorry, money draws, he draws. Does he
have rules that are different? Of course he does. I remember Vince McMahon
during the remember the build to Roman Reigns versus brock Lesnar in twenty eighteen,
and Roman Reins went like back into Gorilla and was cussing at Vince McMahon and
really just reaming him out for saying that Brock has special privileges. And then
Vince had like a quick interview and he's just like, does Brock have special
privileges? Yeah, he does because he's brock Lessner. Yeah, for sure.
Like why would And I'll just use these two as an example because I
just brought them up as two who have probably taken the hardest hit. Why
should Bobby Lashley and to a muscle much lesser extent carrying Cross get the same
leeway as the Rock? Like, I'm sorry, but like and I like
those two wrestlers. I like that program. I think that if you invested
more time into it, there is something there with both those groups. But
I am sorry, am I upset that Bobby Lashley in The Street Profits versus
the Final Testament isn't getting enough time because they're giving it to the Rock and
Roman reigns and the bloodline. No, I'm not. And those guys don't
draw. So I mean, does he get special privileges? Of course he
does. Does he have more leeway language wise? Of course he does.
But he's the rock, the same reason why brock Lesnar came in and was
champion or Johnsen or whatever. Like I'm sorry, it's like you said,
it's just like like you said, it's just babies, I'm sorry. And
I understand it, though. I understand the frustration of just you're there all
all the time, and then this guy comes in, he gets thirty minutes
a show, and all the talk is about him, and and you know
he's gonna take a main event spot for two nights and all the and again
I understand the frustration. But also, like you said, if it's just
jealousy number number one, it's just jealousy. You boil it down. It's
simply jealousy. And also, if you think that you need to cuss to
be better, then you aren't understanding what it means to be better and how
to get better. If you're just like, oh man, you know what,
I'd get so over if I could just say the S or the F
word. I mean, I'd be so much more over then you have no
idea what gets people over, Like, if that's your frustration, then you
are in the wrong business. You don't understand the business, you know,
Like, So, I mean I don't know. I mean, of course
I'm not backstage. Of course I have wrestlers disagree with me here. But
as a fan, I know what draws. I know what I'm interested in,
and ultimately, at the end of the day, I know that that
is what is the most important. Is what's what's going to be the most
money draw, what's the biggest draw, what is the what are the fans
going to watch? You see? The SmackDown ratings also reflect those the Rock
being there. I mean, so I don't want to hear it. Yeah,
I mean I'm battling with nobody here again, you know, But anyway,
all right, I guess we'll wrap it there. Do you have any
any final thoughts or comments? No, all this say is that kind of
came in here, maybe a touch negative, but after kind of talking it
out, I really got more positive. So I'm looking forward to see the
build that they have with no Rock on SmackDown. Like you said that they've
laid the groundwork already, so I'm interested to see them build towards Cody versus
Roman and the rest of the stories that we kind of broke down. Yeah,
exactly. And also, don't forget guys, the after Dark show this
week was breaking down the WrestleManias from Anthony's childhoods. So you know, I
listened to part of that. I didn't get through yet, but very interesting.
We all have WrestleManias if you were a kid and watch wrestling, not
all of you have, but that we all have those WrestleManias that are kind
of synonymous with our childhood and it was very interesting and I'd really recommend you
guys check it out, which of course is only available on the Patreon side
of things or Apple podcasts, So check that out. Thanks for joining me
tonight and we'll be chatting in another week. Looking forward to it, man,
take care you too. Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't
forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss a show,
or head to WWE podcast dot com and for all of these shows add free
head over to Patreon dot com slash WWE podcast. Until then, we'll see
you next time,