Current State of WWE: Wyatt's Passing, John Cena's Return & Another Cody Rant

This is w w E Superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to the w w
E podcast. Stop the show, the one that everybody wants me Godo Well,
Step three sixteen says, just clipt your ass is modern. You're gonna
acknowledge me. Welcome to the current state of w w E. Everybody.
We are back back as we normally are every single Monday. And there's always
Monday and at rows going on right now, so things may happen that we
don't know about yet. But we're gonna talk about a couple of things tonight,
and that is wrapping up our our thoughts about Bray Wyatt, you know,
some some some new things we'll tie into it there, but also talk
about John Cena and his mass of return learn this coming Friday nights and what
that could lead to ultimately. But first, Anthony, how you doing man?
Welcome back? Not too bad, Bud. Obviously we've had some time
to decompress and digest the bray White stuff a bit more. Obviously, when
I did my retro show, we were just over twenty four hours removed from
the announcement of his unfortunate passing, sudden passing, tragic passing whatever whatever way
you want to use to describe it, But I mean, you shared your
thoughts on it, I shared mine, and still even I guess whatever we
now seventy two hours removed or whatever it is, it's still kind of feels
weird to think about the fact that Bray White has gone, and even more
so to think about just how impactful he was to everyone who watched him,
because he like he felt like one of the only guys in the history of
professional wrestling that of like non main eventors who every room was always pulling for
all the time time. That's a good way to you know, a good
point to make. And the fact that things you know, you and I
were talking about off the air, texting actually about how you know your girlfriend
and my you know my girlfriend, my wife, actually you know those are
that was one of the things that she actually cared about was the bray Wide
character. And you made a point that you know, he was able to
capture the even the very most casual of fans, and that that was a
just a absolute attributable to him being a magnetic character, being that just that
you can't take your eyes off of him, even if you don't know what
the hell he's saying. And so that's a good point. And you know,
my my wife is like, you know, wait, what bray Wide
died. I'm you know, one of the very few people she knows exist
in wrestling outside of the massive names. So you know, I also wanted
to bring that up. Yeah, no, it's a great point because,
like I mentioned on my show, my girlfriend and I had only been dating
for about a year when he brought brought out the Firefly Funhouse Gimmick and the
Fiend, and she made it a point that every single week she wanted to
watch bray Wyatt and what would you see on the flyf Funhouse? What would
the Fiend do? And then even last year around it was right around this
time where you started seeing all the Easter eggs of the bar codes and the
White Rabbit and all this stuff that culminated in his return and Extreme Rules,
and she was following that weekly with me. It was the only part of
wrestling that she would want to follow every week. And at Extreme Rules,
she literally watched the pay per view beginning to end with me just to see
bray Wyatt return. And then she would they're on out watch every SmackDown with
me to see what he had to say all the way until Extreme Rules,
where I believe the SmackDown before in Montreal was the last time we would see
a televised bray Wyatt. So for Montreal feeling a little special that the last
time we saw Braywatt on TV was in Montreal. But it just goes to
show the reach he had and how good he was a captivating even the casual
fans. He you know that that is uh, that's not something that's easily
done. You know. You you bring a casual fan in and they you
know, they're easily off put by things that aren't massive news right like they're
they're expecting the best of the best. You know, it's difficult to bring
in casual fans and consistently keep them engaged in the story. And bray Wyatt
was able to do that same thing from from my wife and uh, you
know, she would she would ask me and what she would want to see
the segments so on YouTube it She wouldn't sit and watch row with me,
but she would, you know, want let me show her the YouTube clips
of it and she establish her favorite character by far, and he while you
know, the Pitch Black match wouldn't have been a fairytale ending, and it's
not I mean like to say that that was his final match, the Pitch
Black match against La Knight. Uh at least you can take solace in the
fact that inadvertently he helped build La Night to what he is right now.
And a lot of those crowd reactions started back when bray Wyatt and uh Andy
bray White and La Night were feuding. And obviously, again the match result
and negative reviews, I mean, I stand by them. They are what
they are. I know he's passed, but they wasn't the greatest match in
the world. We don't know what would have led to his career had it
not got cut in short with his hard issues that were known and COVID that
exacerbated it. Apparently what's coming out now is that he wasn't wearing a pacemaker
or something that his doctor advised that he that he should, or you know,
those kinds of things are all, you know, kind of moot points
now. But obviously this hard, hard issue that he had was much more
serious than anybody had realized. And you make a good point that the payoff
to his program against lay Night at the Pitch Black it was pitch black,
right the Mountain, Mountain pitch black matches, No pitch black match, And
it was very underwhelming, and we never really got a payoff for anything that
we were hoping for, Like what was the White Rabbit? You know,
we never really got an answer for that. Who was Uncle Howdy? What
was his relationship with bray Whytt? What was this all going to culminate with?
Like we were thinking about Roman reigns. Obviously he was supposed to have
the match with Bobby Lash WrestleMania, Like, there are so many unanswered questions
that will never be answered now that bray Wyatt has passed. That I mean,
in a lot of ways, we're underwhelming because you could remember just how
excited everyone was like his return. Do you remember anyone having such an anticipated
return as he had last year relating up to the extreme rules, No,
not to that degree in quite a while now. And I was thinking to
myself during SmackDown watching it about like men, like there are just so many
unknowns and some things will just never know what could have been with bray Watte,
but now that he has passed. But then I saw La Knights promo
and I thought La Knight knocked it out of the park, Like this guy
is a star, not even in the making, he is a legitimate superstar.
This guy captivates audiences in his own right. And the way that he
was able to walk the line and blur the lines of reality and kfabe was
something that I haven't seen in a long long time, Like he spoke from
the heart and was as real as could be, but also kept the integrity
of his character well and alive. And that's when I realized, and I
don't want to sound impulsive here, but it made me realize in that moment
that the best way that we could honor bray Wyatt or wwe would honor bray
Wyatt. And in my opinion, they have a chance to pretty much,
I guess, freeze him in internal glory, in their Hall of Fame or
in their history and not like he probably already is there no matter what.
But I think it's that La Knight is your guy to be thrown Roman reigns,
because you could always go back to the fact that bray White was the
guy who put him over in the first place, and bray Wyatt was the
guy who pretty much catapulted him to start him and I'm not going to say
that it was only because of bray Wyatt. I think Ala Knight would have
gotten there on his own, but we can't deny that La Knight like really
took off like a rocket ship because of that. In a lot of ways,
underwhelming program with bray Wyatt, but I could only speak to me as
a fan personally, is that seeing him go ahead to head with bray Watt
like, I didn't know who the hell La Knight was. I didn't know
that he was a big star and impact. I just knew him as Max
Dupree. I didn't watch NXT. But the way that he was able to
shine through and make the most of his program with bray Wyatt made me quickly
realize how big of a star he is and the way that he cut that
promo and to give himself, to give him credit, the way that he
was able to cut that promo and honor bray Wyatt and say your biggest foes
or sometimes your biggest teachers or something like that. And I just think that
now they have their guy. In my opinion, that should be thrown Roman
reigns and I think it would be a way to forever ondor bray Wyatt.
Yeah, the look the fact that La Knight is where he is is do
in part Again, this was not the plan, though I'm not saying that
w W should be given any credit for this. This is a fan movement
through and through. There were no plans for La Knight to be where he
is right now, and it's purely because of the fans and now the machines
getting behind him, and rightfully so. But yeah, look the La Night
promo, I say a plus, it was La Knight's best promo he's ever
cut. And you mentioned the blurring of the lines. That is not an
easy needle to thread. I mentioned this on my or my week interview.
This is not This is difficult to do where you're in character but you're not
and you're talking about real things. But then seamlessly transition and back to a
storyline with the mis and hammered them is and in a way that I have
been waiting for him to do, at least in part. There's still more
he could do. But talking about how he has too much base in his
voice and how and he did a great misimpression, You're like, wow,
the miss does kind of have a high pitched voice. For a dude,
and you know, you kind of go along with the La Night there,
and and it kind of a rock esque way of making fun of them is
I don't care if the Rock comparisons are supposed to be dis is by some
people. I think that's a Actually, I think that's a compliment. Some
people trying to make it an insult. I don't. I think it's a
massive compliment to La Night. And then you know, hammering him on how
the fact that he was champion twelve years ago and he's still talking about that
and he was a you know, a forgotten entity in the main event of
really people caring about the Rock and John Cena not giving a damn about him.
That's all true. So he hammered that nicely. But his tribute to
Bray was very well done, and at the very end saying, you know,
a wise man once told me, you know that the next time you
see me run and I was like, that's perfect. It was just it
was delivered perfectly. I don't know who is responsible with that promo, whether
it's a collaborative effort from Elie Knight and Paul Hayman or whoever, or who
have Triple H who knows whoever was involved with that. Obviously, Ellie Knight
himself should be give most credit for delivering it perfectly, and should he be
the one to dethrone Roman. I think you've got no better candidate than him
right now. The only knock against him is he's not some young, up
and coming guy that you could use to excel him to for the next ten
years. I mean, La Knight is forty. I mean you know that
that's not young. But he feels like a professional. He feels like a
star. As you said, he doesn't just have the name WWE superstar because
that's who everyone even if you just if I entered the company tomorrow, I'd
be considered a superstar. It's superstar in the actual name of what it's supposed
to mean. That's what he is right now. But he isn't young.
That's the only knock against him. But I don't care. I think he
is the absolute right guy right now to do it. And you could add
the list of the bray White and to that to the reasons for it.
I don't see another guy in the company right now that is a better selection,
even more so than Seth Rollins. Yeah, I just think that La
Knight did, and he deserves credit in his own right. Like this isn't
me saying like, oh bray why put him to where he is today?
Like no, this was La Knight was his star in the making. I
just think that bray White expedite that process. And I don't think it's even
fair to say that he gave La Knight the rub, but I mean,
for lack of better terms, maybe that's the word to use, because it
was like in my head and I'm sure for you, we all thought that
bray Wyatt was gonna be a major player in the World Championship picture. He
was gonna be a major player in the main event scene on SmackDown. He
was going to be the guy to you know, step to Roman Reigns or
one of the fault the new contenders for that championship, especially given the fact
that Roman Reigns started there's one thousand day plus title reign by dethroning bray White
as Universal Champion three years ago. But then it's like, with bray White
passing, wouldn't it be poe eddic for La Knight to take that baton from
bray Watt given every and in addition, rather to everything else that La Knight
is doing on his own, the organic fan support him, cutting promos like
a superstar, him not feeling out of place whatsoever, main eventing smackdowns like
for him, the main event SmackDown in a winning fashion on the bray Waitt
Tribute Show, I think speaks volumes to now WWE's confidence in him and giving
him the opportunity to cut that promo about bray Wyatt of blurring the lines.
And I look, obviously, I'm sure WWE has a lot of things up
their sleeve and they have a lot of irons in the fire in terms of
who could be the one to dethrow Norman Rains. But in addition to what
La Knight has already done on his own, it just feels like this would
be a way to forever honor bray Wyatt as kind of prepare and Ellie Knight
said this, he was preparing him for every anything and could that anything eventually
be the disputed championship. Well, that's where we all, that's where everyone
wanted him before money in the bank. I mean, everybody you know wants
everything right now. I'm cool with the slow burn. It's it's working out
perfectly. Right now. For me, I have no issues. He cut
a career defining promo on Friday Night. I I just there's no no two
ways about it. That was his best promo to date. Just attributing to
Bray killing them is and yes, he will defeat them is in a match.
Whenever that happens. We know that, you know, But I just
I don't know how to, like you said, how to better honor Bray.
I wouldn't do it as a knee jerk reaction. I mean, Roman
Reign's Toddle run is three plus years in the making. I wouldn't just do
it as like an emotional knee jerk. Oh. I want to do it
right now because of Bray. Because look, and the fact of the matter
is, as time goes on, you know, the not the memory of
Bray will fade, but the emotional reaction that we're having right now will fade.
It's just it's just the way life is. So I wouldn't if I
were WWE, and I don't think they're gonna do it. Go oh my
god, Well, Brad's you know, you know, Bray pass, Let's
make everyone happy by ending Roman's title RG. And that's kind of shortsighted.
It just adds to the reasons. As you mentioned, it just adds to
it. It's not the soul, but it adds to it and supports more
of a reason to have Ellie Knight be the guy. But one final thing
I'll ask you about Bray before we move to John Cena is do you think
that they should continue the storyline outside of Ellie Knight and maybe him attributing the
wind Debray and all that, But do you think the Uncle Howdy storyline should
continue or any facet of that of what he was going to do? Should
that continue? Or do you think it's kind of all dead in the water
now that Bray is gone. If they wanted to make Uncle how do he
come out once and expose who he is and kind of maybe tie in like
a somewhat of an ending to get some kind of closure, It's like a
one off fine, But in terms of playing out any potential story now,
because I just feel like that was bray Watt's brainchild and trying to emulate what
he would have wanted done, I think it's a loser's race, and I
think in a lot of ways bray White was his own worst enemy. When
it came to storytelling, Like I think that when he returned and vince Ricmahn
wasn't around and he kind of had carte blanche to do what he wanted,
I think that it swung too far in the other direction. It was like
we would come on here and we would talk, trying to peel back all
these layers of this massive bray White onion. And sometimes it was like,
man, like what would you always say, like just don't teach me how
to write the song, just play it for like, use some kind of
analysy the watch, Like don't teach me how to make make the watch,
just tell me the time, like exactly. And I think bray White sometimes
went a bit too far. And I think with that Uncle Howardy's stuff near
the end and and the last time we saw him, like we didn't even
know what direction it was going, like who was Uncle Howdy? What was
his relation to bray Wyatt? Like why were on the same team now?
Why did he help him defeat La Knight? Like there was just so many
things going on at one time that I mean, I think that bray Wyatt
was the only guy who could ever really truly give us closure. I think
we all imagine that it was bow Dallas under the mask. But I mean,
if they want to expose that or whoever it was and just give like
a loose bit of closure, fine, But I don't want to see it
played out. Partially because bray Wyatt it would be kind of disrespectful to him,
but principally just because I didn't really care for the storyline anyway, which
sucks because you know, October November December last year, I was knee deep
in bray Wye content, but towards the end Royal rumble on, I really
just had no more appetite for it. And without bray Wyatt there, it
doesn't really give me any benefit of the doubt towards it as well. Yeah,
genuinely in the same boat. You know, generally, I Waller is
some curiosity because everything's so fresh, and there's that that kind of initial reaction
to say, yeah, that'd be kind of cool, any kind of tie
to bray people are clawing onto right now and saying, you know, it'd
be cool. You know, just I understand the emotional want for that,
but is it logical, you know, trying to look at this through a
neutral lens, which isn't easy to do. It's easier said than done,
given how everyone everyone's feeling right now, you know. But if there's a
reason for it and someone's could benefit from it, sure, but I wouldn't
just do it to continue it just to continue it for nostalgia's sake, or
for for you know, those who feel like some kind of emotional tie to
Bray. It would, you know all that, I would, I would
just you know, I wouldn't do it for that reason. But yeah,
you're right, you know, if if I uncle how he wants to come
out and just reveal his identity and then we can all move on find you
know, but I wouldn't draw it out just to draw it out. However,
that said, maybe Bray shared some ideas with Triple Hs that he may
use in the future that we don't know about and only we'll find out after
the fact in some kind of documentary or something that you know, Triple H
reveals that, you know, Bray had shared this idea with him, and
he used that in this story or something like that. I mean, I'm
sure Triple H and Bray had at length conversations about all the things that he
wanted to do and Triple H has gone on record before. I think it
was on the Impulsive podcast a couple of months ago when he said that Bray
Wyatt, you know, as you just mentioned, is his own worst enemy
sometimes with so many different ideas and things he wants to do, it's difficult
to kind of keep him on a particular lane on one highway. He always
wants to go off on detours and things. So that's exactly, and we
saw that play out on TV with all these things, and that's where I
just said, this isn't He is intriguing, and that's the one thing he
has going for it. But I said, I don't know what the hell's
going on anymore. I don't have the time to sit here with the decoder.
So but no, I'm all for a kind of one off feeling,
a one off deal. You know. I'm sure they'll do something again on
Monday at raw tonight. I'm sure they've already done something or we'll do something
for Bray throughout the night. But I you know, I don't need a
Bray wide storyline to continue just to make us all feel good. It'll just
kind of, I think, extend the pain for no reason for a lot
of people. So any kind of thoughts on this before we go to John
Sen or you want to just dive into John I just had one question,
not entirely related to Bray, but do you think it was a bad look
that Roman rains wasn't there? No, I you know, there's two ways
to look at it, you know, the two schools of thought here.
I think your top champion isn't there to have comments, Your top champion doesn't
have anything to say, Your top champion doesn't show face for one of the
biggest stars in wrestling dying. You know, there is that, you know.
But the other reason is, and maybe you know the answer to this,
why didn't he? Like is it because w W and Roman felt that
it's not worth breaking in Kfebe and breaking his character in all three years?
Maybe they feel like it'll even with Bray's death, it's not worth blowing that
all up in some kind of out of character interview. Or is it just
like he was busy with family and had other obligations because he wasn't supposed to
be there anyway, I honestly don't know the answer. Yeah, Like I'm
kind of split both ways. Like I do think it would have been somewhat
monumental in a way and very significant head Roman Reigns. Honestly, like,
I think that and I've seen this suggested online a bit that they should retire
the Blue Universal Championship because Bray was the one who debuted that title and he
was the last one to hold it before Roman Reigns won in eventually merged it
and unified it with the w w E Championship. I would like and maybe
they still have time, like you said, maybe he had prior commitments,
and maybe, like in the mote, right away, they didn't know exactly
how to utilize Roman Reigns without breaking his character. I would just maybe like
to see the next time Roman Reigns comes out, if they if that was
an idea to actually or a serious consideration to retire that championship, like him
come out, not say anything, not to compromise his character, because I
think, knowing what we know about Bray Bray Wyatt would want Roman to keep
the integrity of his character as well. But just like when they had like
the lantern note at the end of the show, like had Romans Reigns his
music hit, he walked out with the Blue Universal Championship, he laid it
beside the lantern, and then he walked out, and then they did that
exact same end. I think something like that would have gone a long wain,
you wouldn't have compromised romans character. At the same time, I agree,
and that they could have easily done that. Again, we're all sitting
here thinking, Oh, he just didn't care enough to show up. I
don't think that's the case. I think Roman reigns Joe on Awaii is it
is a genuinely good dude, like from everything I've seen and heard, Like,
so we don't know the reasons. We can all sit here and you
know, point fingers and past judgments that, oh my god, that's so
inconsiderate. We don't know why he wasn't there. Maybe it's out by now.
I haven't seen anything, but yeah, I think if that had happened,
you're right, that's a good way to kind of tow the line of
him paying respects, but also, you know, staying kind of in character,
not saying much. Also, you know, this is a kind of
a way that when Stone Cold Steve Austen when he was or when Owen Hart
died. I remember the night after the Monday net raw after the infamous Monday
net raw. After owen Hart died, the only thing we heard from Stone
Cold was him coming out at the end of the night to clash a couple
of beers together with owen Hart on the Titan John. He didn't say a
word. It's kind of the same thing. You keep your top stars intact.
Will also subtly paying respects to the guy that just passed. And of
course you can behind the scenes, you know, have them give an at
length a heart to heart about what he actually feels and that can be in
a future documentary and all or something like that. But that's exactly right.
You could have done You could have done that, but I don't know the
reasons, So all right, yeah, you don't want to dive too much
into it, but I do agree with you John Cena. So I just
wanted to get the real news here, what's going on with John. And
of course we know the match that's going to happen, but this is not
just for a match and a tag team match with Seth Rollins that's gonna be
against Vanni Evenci and Ludwig Kaiser at the Superstar Spectacle event in India in September
eighth, but and of course he's appearing this Friday to promote that. But
this is seven straight SmackDown shows that this is going he's going to be on.
This isn't just like a uh He's there to promote September one, and
then September eighth he's having the match in India for the Superstar Spectacle. This
is apparently seven straight smackdowns he's going to be at. So what do you
think. Well, I would imagine the writer's strike in Hollywood has something to
do with it, right, Like I would imagine that. But I think
from a non wrestling point of view, I think it just goes to show
how much love Johnson and It has for the wrestling business. Like love or
hate his character, I think the actual guy has given his life to w
w E along with Make a Wish, and I think that him committing to
almost two months worth of television on SmackDown it really is a big indicator on
how much he really loves the business and every time he can back to it,
even though even though he was the face of the company for well over
a decade, even now when he has time he will come back and be
a consistent character, and I mean it's kind of like, maybe this isn't
where you thought I was taking this, But like the first thing I thought,
because you telling me that he's committed to seventh straight Smack Dunes is the
first time hearing from it. So this is my initial, like genuine reaction
to hearing this news. The first thing that popped into my head was just
like, why the hell is he pulling the rocks weight? I don't know
why. Yeah, I don't know. You're right about the writer's strike.
I mean, now there's even less of a reason for the rock to you
know, have excuses. Of course, he's also doing a zillion other projects
other than Hollywood, but yeah, that's that's kind of true, pulling pulling
the rocks weight. So he's going to be there from September one through October
twenty seven for seventh straight appearances. Now I don't know this article according to
the bleacher Report, so this isn't just off some clickbait website. Bleacher Report
has been fairly consistent, fairly accurate, and fairly credible over the last several
years, so I'm going with them. They do say that it's unclear if
he's going to continue into November and December. But this is going to be
his most regular string appearance of appearances in years, which is true. I
can't remember the last time that John Cena had more than like two regular appearance
as hell, he had only one appearance on RAW before he faced Austin Theory,
the infamous cutting down Austin Theory promo and then having him lose to Theory,
but also at the same time Theory losing in a win, which was
bizarre, and in Theories career went off a cliff and then he loses the
US title. That's a whole other conversation. But he had one appearance before
WrestleMania. Now he has seven appearances heading to the end of the year.
I don't know if it'll go into November December, but clearly there is something
happening I think brewing for WrestleMania forty. I mean, I just can't not
think about WrestleMania forty. It's seven months away, but it will happen faster
than you think, and I don't I don't know if he's obviously not going
to be on every show from you know, from on November December, January
February, Martin it's not going to happen, but there's a thought of,
well maybe in these seven appearances something could happen. I don't know outside of
this tag team match with Seth that it seems kind of useless, yeah,
and that we were talking about this when the last times we came on,
and maybe it was because it's been two weeks since we spoke that, like
this is kind of like the second lull of the year that we get annually,
like post SummerSlam right up until Survivor series like September October, usually pretty
dull and how would you say it, like unfulfilling months in WWE, And
for John Cena to commit to smackdowns right until the you said the middle of
October and almost Halloween. Wow, so almost Halloween. So he's basically committed
to two very non substantial months in WWE, like September October, Like what
really goes on in those months? Even historically the pay per views have not
been very substantial either, like back in the day you had Unforgiven and No
Mercy or a Taboo Tuesday or whatever it may have been. So I mean,
I think John Cena committing here is more than just saying like oh,
I have some free time, Let's do SmackDown for two months straight. And
I think it does mean that he's laying the groundwork for something. And I
mean to answer your question, the last time I remember John Cena like somewhat
full time in a capacity like this was probably twenty seventeen in his Built to
Roman reigns. Right around this time. I think that was No Mercy in
October and before that, because even there he was more part time than anything.
I remember the last time I remember John Cena feeling like a full time
guy. And not to say that he's full time now again, but like
just seeing him advertise for two on straight worth of pay per view or Smackdowns
is kind of feels like that. But it was probably in twenty sixteen,
right after the brand split, where he went to SmackDown and he was feuting
with like AJ Styles and he was involved in a triple threat match for the
WWE Championship and they came back around December. So we're talking like a good
six seven years since we've seen John Ceno on ww programming in this kind of
capacity. This, Yeah, it does. It feels like it's been someone
should go back and take a look, it probably is a good six six
years or so. I mean, and I'm also thinking back to the AJ
Styles Summer Slam match. I think he was there somewhat regularly to help build
that program, which was an underrated program. I mean the match they put
on. I believe they opened Summer Slam. It might have been twenty fifteen.
If I don't know, I'm not good at those dates, but it
was the mid twenty tens that they had that matchup. And so yeah,
it's been quite some time. No matter how you slice it, there is
something brewing here. There's some kind of reason where John Cena has said many
times that he can't go well and what's he doing. I mean, he
says he can't go with the level he wants to as much as you know,
on a regular basis. Yet he's on seven straight smackdowns. He's being
advertised with seven straight smackdowns. I don't know if it's there. He's not
gonna be wrestling every single time. We know that he'll probably hit an AA
on you know this person, that person cut some promos. But this this
tag team match with Seth against Ludwig and Giovanni Vinci's of course Seth and John
are gonna win here. I don't know if John Sena's or Seth's gonna turn
on Sina. I can't see that happening this. I don't know what this
is setting up, dude, just in the very short term. I guess
I'll ask you that, do you think anything comes of this confirmed tag team
match with Sina and Rollins versus Vinci and Kaiser in India and September eighth?
Or is this just a kind of a one off exhibition to put big names
on a card with two essentially enhancement talent that are obviously going to take the
lass here on September eighth. I think it's more of the ladder, just
because because he's being advertised for SmackDown and this is raw wrestlers that he's gonna
be teaming with and competing against in Rawlins and Imperium. So I mean,
I'm just gonna chalk it up to an exhibition match for an overseas event.
But I do think that there's something more here, and maybe it's building towards
Survivor Series, Like we don't really know what gimmicks Survivor Series will have this
year. Last year they went away from the brand versus brand glorified bragging rights
version of Survivor series. They went with war Games. I don't know if
they could try and angle something else with John Cena headed towards Survivor series,
but it just feels like Survivor Series one, in some form or fashion is
usually a gimmick pay per view and not one for like substantial legendary matches.
So like maybe they're saying something up towards the Rumble season, but like,
I just don't I'm trying to think, like assuming that he is working with
someone on SmackDown, I'm just trying to figure out the person. And I
mean the only thing they could think of is Edges a SmackDown guy. Are
they gonna lay the groundwork for a match between the two of them at resting
at forty? Like, I know you've been being that drum for quite a
while, but it is very interesting, Like there's no way that they're just
going to have John Seen to show up for two months straight and do as
great as hits. You know, it has to be for a bigger purpose,
I would hope. So there's that's also the good point too, is
I mean, I could see if he was there one or two shows,
greatest hits, you know, just kind of messing around, having fun,
pop up a couple of big ratings, filling the gap of the Bloodline storyline
taking a hold, although Jimmy is returning to SmackDown next week for whatever that's
worth the people. But yeah, this you would imagine it's not just about
this tag team match. There has to be something that comes from this tag
team match that we don't learn until the match is over. Somebody attacks John.
But for the fact that he is there seven straight weeks or you're right,
like, he can't just come out and do commentary or cut a promo
or you know, enter to the crowd for seven times. It's got to
be a big purpose, a bigger purpose that ends up ends up manifesting itself,
maybe to WrestleMania forty. Maybe it's not. Maybe it is Survivor Series,
and you know, maybe that's where the right now they're looking for.
And then they'll take it one step at a time. Ago, Okay,
John, then we'll do this and this in December and January. Then we'll
set you up for WrestleMania. But perhaps and I can't that is encouraging.
I didn't even think about that. Now that Edge is quote unquote gone,
which I don't believe in people. People keep talking about him in AW.
I'm not trying to get into that, but I have my doubts that even
if he goes there, even if he does the team with Christian Cage,
then it's gonna be anything long term. Okay, he cannot. You cannot
tell me that. With WrestleMania forty on the horizon, Edge is going,
Yeah, well, I'm gonna call it a career here in WW I'm gonna
do it unaverat or basically an exhibition match against my best friend. It is
Toronto. It's a nice little send off, but I think he wants to
write his own story. He ended his career at WrestleMania without his choice.
Now I think he's gonna, per his own volition, his own choice,
want to end it at WrestleMania this time around. It's just poetic, but
it is encouraging with Edge floating around maybe and John Cena definitely going to be
there. I don't know. I mean, it does seem early to build
that to WrestleMania, but perhaps they have an interaction that seems friendly that you
could go huh. I think in video packages in four or five months,
six months, this is going to be the first thing we look at in
that edge and John seen a video package it. It is a fun thought
and it's not out of the realm of possibility. So I have one question.
You were never a big fan of like John Cena baby face character right
in the mid two thousands. No, I never. How do you match
him up to Cody Rhodes? You know that? Maybe this is why?
And see, I think you're you. I'm holding you personally responsible for this
because I was actually starting to go Okay, it is a fun entrance song.
It's catchy. I'm finding myself listening to on Spotify and I'm like,
all right, yeah, like and seeing it live when they were in Albody,
I'm like, all right, like this it is a fun entrance live.
I cannot deny it. But the more that I watch him every week
with his stupid smiles and his stupid suits and his pandering, and it's you're
calling everyone friends and like just coming out there and just just basically kissing our
ass, and I hate that. It's really gnawing at me and I'm really
starting to turn on it and like you're in my head now, and I'm
like, all right, dude, yeah, like, screw this character.
It is so phony and and just I think that's a good way of putting
it. That does remind me a little bit of Sina, who would pander
to the crowd, the whole chain gang thing. I also think with John
Cena, he came off an era of stone Cold, Steve Bouston and The
Rock, who were in the TV fourteen era of kicking ass, beer,
middle fingers, blood guts too. As The Rock famously put it, you
can't see me. Like his return promo in twenty eleven, it went from
hardcore, the authentic ass kicking to this little you know, this multi colored
children baby kissing character of John Cena. And I think that was also a
stark contrast that turned me off to his baby face character. So it's a
little bit of that with Cody. Yeah, I know everyone, I think
you've got a lot of messages about people getting a kick out of my tribe.
Yeah, I'm not gonna go like maybe we could have like that some
kind of segment of just what's bothering me? Like the Peter Griffin, you
know what grinds my gears? Yeah, yeah, maybe we could start that.
But look, Cody is just it is channel changing. Like I know
I said this last time, but when he came out to be like I
think you put it properly, like he came out to give his stamp of
approval on paying proper tribute to Terry Funk, Like I just changed the channel.
I literally I just didn't watch it because I'm just like, I know
what he's gonna do. I know what he's gonna say. He's gonna act
like he's the only one that could give a proper tribute to Terry Fok because
of his dad and this, and I just I can't stand him. I
really I cannot stand him. I think he's a fake. He he's a
narcissist. He is, and that would make for a great heal if he
ever Like it feels when he comes out like I'm supposed to hate his guts,
but then I remember that he's portrayed as a baby his like he loves
himself, like I like, I really feel like he watches his promos back
with his wife and it's just like I killed it, like I absolutely knock
that thing out of the park, and like and you just know that he
loves himself like he's I don't know, I really like I There's just something
about this guy and it's not his in ring work. I don't want him
fired. He's a good promo. It's just it's the character. But it
also makes me resent the guy because you know that he loves this character and
I don't even know what his character is aside from being Dusty Rhodes a son,
Like I don't get it, like you walk around in it? Like
what was the last baby face to walk around perpetually in a three piece suit?
Who is it? Like? Even Shawn Michaels, who This is the
best way I could kind of like put it in terms of why I think
wearing a suit is stupid. Shawn Michaels never wore a suit. He was
predominantly a baby face from two thousand and two to when he retired. Never
wore a suit. One time he wore a yeah, yeah, when was
it Montreal exactly? And what was he trying to do? Draw heat exactly?
So it is just everything just is so asked backwards with Cody Rhodes,
like, dude, I do not get it, Like even the Rock,
like the Rock was wearing like kind of like Gucci shirts when he was with
like the with the corporation. He kept it going for a bit, even
when he was a baby face, but then he slowly went into like the
track suit look and like it was just like, dude, like, why
do you think that this is endearing? Like how am I supposed to relate
to a guy who has a choreograph entrance theme, has fifty two million fireworks
on his way to the ring. Where's a suit that's probably more expensive than
my car outside, has bleach blonde hair when we all know it's black,
has a tattoo on his neck. That's the most obnoxious thing I've ever seen
in my life. It's like, what about him? Am I supposed to
like that? His dad is Dusty Rhodes. That's that is basically what I
am supposed to like about Code Rhodes to be like, you know what,
he should be the top baby face in the company. His dad is Dusty
Rhodes. I forgot because everything else makes me want to vomit and change the
channel. This good stuff, though, This is good because that is I
think the best way, and I've been trying to find a way to encapsulate
why I find this such an off putting character that I've been actually making an
effort to try to like. And there were moments I'm like, Okay,
I think I'm on board, but then I got right off the train.
And that is he loves himself and he can't help but show it, even
though he's not self aware enough to know he's showing it. It's been the
way he talks, you can. As I mentioned, it's like he's imagining
himself looking at himself while he's cutting the promo instead of just talking to us
like a normal human being. Everything is super produced, everything is all of
a sudden. Cody is the one giving stamps of approval to Seth and to
Kevin Owens and to Sammy Zane and putting a stamp of approval on Terry Field,
Like are you like, I know why they do it, because they
take their top baby faces and they put them in that position. I get
it. But Cody Rhodes has been back for what like a year and a
half and you know, and missing half of that to due to injury.
But you're right, the bleached bond hair that looks like he's you know,
trying to be justin Timberlake from two thousand and one. You know, there's
the suits that makes really no sense, as you mentioned, because also not
only does it usually it's a heat draw for heels, but also the fact
that it's just from you know, kind of a logical perspective. If you're
in a professional wrestling ring, is the best, you know, is the
best way to make sure you're ready for anything? To be in a suit?
Is that going to make you the most mobile? Is that going to
make you the most you know, ready to fight at a moment's notice.
Uh? No, it's not. And I know that his excuse it.
He actually alluded to this. I think Cody talked about it that while I
do it, you know, I don't I don't want to. Uh what
was the phrase he used, I don't want to. Or I dress for
the job I want, not the job I have, or something like that,
Like he you know, he wants to dress the part, he wants
to be the part. And it's like, I don't think again, he's
not self aware enough to know. He seems like a highly intelligent guy,
but it's that is the one thing he will never be able to get away
from because it's inherently in his DNA is he does love himself even if his
words say the opposite. The feeling and what's radiating off of him is self
love. That's exactly what it is, because he's he's trying to get the
adulation of fans to make himself feel good for the cheers. Like it's it's
it's it's exactly what it is, a self love that he cannot help em
oute. And this is on WWE two. It's on WWE because they brought
him back and that he has what one televised loss where he got pinned because
against brock They God forbid, he tapped out against brock Lesner, God forbid,
he had to pass out from the pain because he's he's so tough,
Like what stupidity is that John Cena got killed by brock Lesner, the Rock
loss to brock Lesner, Triple h got lost to brock Lesner twice in a
span of a year. Are any of them less wrestlers because of it?
Like it's just so stupid, Like he could take a loss some once in
a while, he could not look like he's like the top of the mat,
like I just I don't know, like it's I don't know what ww's
infactuation is with him. Because here's the best way to put it, My
girlfriend, very casual fan, can't stand Cody Rhodes. You know why,
she said, who the hell is this guy? He came out of nowhere?
Now he can't be beaten. And that's the way that my biggest qualm
with it is because if you started watching WWE in let's say twenty eighteen,
let's say, and you don't watch any other wrestling promotions because you're a casual
watcher, you don't know what Cody Rhodes did before WWE, or you don't
know what like earlier in w w E. You don't know what he did
on the indies, you don't know what he did in aw You don't really
know who Dusty Rhodes is. Like why are we supposed to just accept the
fact that now he's just this unstoppable forbes, Like he beats seth rawlins three
pay per views in a row, then he comes back after you're missing seven
months, wins the Royal Rumble, he loses to Roman Range just because like
Solo Sakoa gave him like eight Samoans spikes or whatever it was. Brock Lessner
has to make compact Like it's like, like what is he Like is he
just like he's just invincible? Why because he's Dusty Roads his son, that's
it? And because he was in aw when he came back. Like I
don't know, Like I'm not crapping on his talent. It's just the part
is so miscast and the pushing him to the moon and being invincible. It's
just I don't have time for it anymore. And it has gone into channel
changing, like I didn't watch his promontary funk, like I got to the
whole airboard wet dog are the egg sucking dog? Yeah? He said egg
sucking No, I'm just like, oh this is stupid. And I changed
it because I'm just like, obviously you had to make it about yourself and
you had to slip in that your dad is Dusty Rhodes. That's that's what
his character is. Yeah, I don't know if this is grooming him to
be, you know, a part two again Roman, and he's going to
be the one to finally finish the story, finally beat Roman. I right
now, if I was, I mean, look, La Knight is the
fan. I think if it was put up against a vote. If WW
said we're gonna we're going to put it up a poll on ww dot com,
whoever gets the most votes to for this poll will be the one to
beat Roman Reigns. I think that La Knight would actually edge out Cody Rhodes
because right now it's kind of the newer thing. But I think the genuine
connection with La Knight is just that it's more genuine than Cody Rhodes when it
when it gets boiled down to it. But the fact is that WW we
would sit here and debate us and go, well, you know what,
you guys can say what you want, and you guys are the minority,
because clearly his merchandise and the thousands of fans every week cheering for him say
otherwise. And I get that we are in the minority. But perhaps we're
gonna we'll create a ground movement here. We'll be we'll be on the we'll
be at what is it, patient zero, We'll be the one to take
out the Cody Rhodes movement. At least from a baby faced perspective, he
would be a brilliant heel. I mean, he would just be a brilliant
heel because he's already got everything built in. He's just masked with this pandering
to the crowd, and it's some singalong music is really what it is.
And as you said, the whole Dusty element, which I'm tired of hearing
about. I'm really sick if I never heard Dusty Rhodes's name again. And
I hate to say that it'll be too soon because of the whole Cody connection.
But all right, final thoughts on this before before we before we wrap
it up. I honestly wasn't playing on going on a Cody Rhodes die tribe.
It's just he trigged. He offends me. In a twenty twenty three
world, we have to be offended by something. I'm offended by Cody Rhodes.
But you remember when seth Ron's got attacked by a fan. That's gonna
be me, young Cody Rhodes, You're gonna be that guy. So like
we already know, we already know the the identity of the fan that's gonna
charge Cody Rhodes. H Yeah, I if I met him at a meet
and greet, the first thing I would say is just like, wait a
second, is Dusty Rhodes your dad? I never put two and two together.
Do do it? Do it like seriously, don't do it with a
half smirk, like yeah, just be like just wait, wait, you're
telling me no, no, like just like act yeah, like the American
Nightmare dream. Oh my god, that's so clever. Yeah, like oh
the tattooed I now I get it. Oh my god. Yeah. I
mean, I'd love to see his reaction because I'm sure he would wait for
you to crack a smile like you're playing a joke on him. But just
you have to like follow through, commit and then see what his reaction is.
That would be brilliant. Yeah. So oh man, all right,
Well, I guess we'll wrap it there on another Cody rant part two.
Guys, we really didn't plan that, but I guess we'll know anytime Cody
Rhodes has mentioned I guess that is a trigger. But I know this past
week with the retro obviously in the passing of Bray, that we did things
a little different and you you recapped his career nicely and pay tribute to him.
But I don't know if you I don't know, it's only Monday,
but if you have any teases for this Friday's retro. Well, I believe
this is a pay per view week. I think that's right, right Saturday,
so there's gonna be no retro. But I will say that I was
planning to recap the Rocks return saving Eugene in two thousand and four before the
bray Wyatt stuff happened and or his passing rather, and I think I'm gonna
probably sit on that until next week and recap it. And I know I've
done a lot of rock returns and a lot of rock content. I understand
I'm guilty as charge, but I just feel like that is a return of
the rock that isn't talked about a lot. But that was a fun return
in two thousand and four. Ah, the whole Eugene. Yes, oh
my god, I remember that. And we had the uncle who Eric Bischoff
was his uncle and he was brating his disabled the nephew and he got all
the way up to the stage. It's yeah, brilliant return. That is
one that has not often talked about and one that definitely will be in a
week and a half time after the PLI this week, So looking forward to
that and any social media that you want to share, and then we'll sign
off. Yeah, you can follow me on. I guess it's X whatever.
Yeah at Ada MARKU twenty five. I've been pretty quiet over the summer,
but usually pretty active during hockey season. All right, well, very
good, and uh take a breath. I'll take a breath, and I
think we'll sleep well knowing that we have publicly humiliated Cody Rodes's baby face character.
So all right, you enjoy your rest of your and I'm in yeah,
man, take it. Bas Thanks for listening to the w w E
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
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we'll see you next time.