Current State of WWE: How Should WWE Handle Randy Orton's Return? Report Card on Handling of L.A. Knight

This is WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to the WWE podcast. Stop
the show, the one that everybody wants me tell you sixteen. So your
ass is my yn you're gonna acknowledge me and welcome to the current state of
WWE. Everybody. It is Monday, October third, twenty twenty three.
We've got a couple of really fun topics to talk about tonight with Anthony DeMarco
joining me as always every single week. And uh, we've got something of
topic that hasn't been official in Randy Orton. We'll talk about that at the
second half of the show. But of course with La Knight front and center,
we have Crown Jewel a week and a half away roughly, and La
Knight has been thrust to the forefront already to face Roman Reigns for the undisputed
WWE Championship, many believing he has no chance. But Anthony, first of
all, how you doing and what are your thoughts about l A. Knight
already now pushed to the main event. Well, first off, doing well
man, thanks for asking before jumping on here. I was taken in the
semi finals of the Well what do you guys call it because you're avid baseball
follower. I only jump on the badwagon for playoff time. Is it like
the the AL finals or the NL finals? Yeah, like exactly. There
are two leagues, so the American League and National League. So it's the
ALCS and the NLCS. Okay, yeah, so these are considered like the
finals of the respective leagues. Yes, so, yeah, so taking in
those games. Hell of a game going on right now between Texas and Houston.
Obviously Houston has been a jugging out for quite some time, but shifting
over to wrestling the reason we are all here. Yeah, I mean,
look, I it's a weird feeling I have right now about La Knight.
It's like, I don't know if Vince McMahon's removal from Creative has a direct
correlation with the sudden Mega push and rocket straps strapped to the back of La
Night, but it's almost feeling like they're trying to make up for lost time
here and everyone, myself included, was expecting AJ's styles to kind of get
the first crack at Roman Reigns upon his return from his hiatus post SummerSlam.
AJ has been pushed to the side. La Knight has been shoved right in
there, and after one night of going face to face with Roman Reigns,
not counting the live event where he actually hit the blunt force trauma on Roman
Reigns. But it just feels like, all of the sudden, this is
supposed to be built as like this major match, and I want to feel
invested for it, but after all this like waiting for La Knight to be
a main event or he's here, and I can help but feel like not
invested in it, and I don't know why, Like, how are you
feeling about this? It's so funny. I've been trying to break down the
feeling that I've had, which is it is similar to yours. I won't
say I'm totally I'm disinvested, but I don't feel as invested as I should
be. And I think the part of that is that while this is what
the Yeah movement is leading to, this is what we all wanted to happen,
was Roman versus La Knight for the undisputed title. It feels like it's
about four months too early at least, and maybe even a little longer because
when TRIPLEH said at the post press conference, after money in the bank,
good things come to those that wait. And then we finally get a battle
royal victory from la A Knight and he's been scratching and cluing ever since.
Then. It feels like he went from chapter one to chapter two to chapter
three and then skip to chapter eight, nine, and ten, and it's
like we didn't get that in between part that I think would have helped us
connect with him even stronger, get to know him a little more, make
his promos a little bit less witty and funny lines and more like substance.
I like his promos. They're fun and they're entertaining. And I said this
last night that they need to not just be good anymore or fun. They
need to be great. They need to be you know, we need to
get emotionally invested with substance of who and what he is. And he's still
getting great, Pops, don't get me wrong. It just feels like we've
skipped a big chunk of what we would have been on and a typical journey
from the bottom. And like you said, it does feel a little rushed.
Even though wwe would tell us if they were on the call here,
they would probably say to us, well, this is this what you wanted,
and now you don't want what you tell us you did want, and
all of a sudden, I could hear it. But there is a story
that we were all on board for, and I think most fans understood this
is gonna take a little while. And then he gets catapulted on top of
the fact that I most fans don't believe he has any chance to win.
I feel very conflicted, and yeah, it's I think it's like, do
you, well, first off, do you think there's any correlation to Vince
mcma's removal of Creative to the sudden rocket shipped strapped to La Knight because it
feels like a month ago he was feuding with the Mizz, which was blown
off on I believe it was a televised match. Wasn't it on SmackDown that
that entire program was blown off? And now all of the sudden, La
Knight is just like shoved in the main event And this has completely all been
about a slow build with La Knight until the last three weeks. And then
I get it that, you know, they say that Ella Knight has earned
it, and I do understand, Like he wins the Battle Royal the Mis
back to back, he wins in the main event of WrestleMania or WrestleMania of
as I believe, like a massive helicopters flying over my house. I hope
nothing's going wrong there. But he went to a tag team match. It
was at fast Lane with John Cena and against the Bloodline. So I mean,
he has earned it with his recent stretch of victories going all the way
back to SummerSlam. But I just thought that there would have been more of
like a slow build here, and like we would have at least gotten Roman
Reigns back for more than a night before, like his next opponent was already
chosen, and it was like the first time that we had seen him in
the ring with l A. Knight. And maybe it's also because I'm just
expecting l A. Knight to lose, like I and maybe that's my way
too early prediction for a Crown Jewel. I'm just expecting l A. Knight
to lose, like I just don't feel like he's going to be the one
to throwing Roman Reigns in early November, after Roman Rains's first match in three
it will be three months. First of all, let that sink in.
By the time he defends the championship at Crown Jewel, it will be three
months since his last championship, So I mean, maybe it's just a culmination
or a combination rather of everything, including Roman Reigns's three month gap between titled
Defenses, but like I want to be invested, but between the predictability Roman
Reigns's gap between defending the championships, and like La Knight's just sudden mega push
after being slowly built for the preceding like five months, I just feel kind
of weird about this straight the entire thing. It is a very contrast.
It's a mix of feelings, and it does have a lot to do with
the fact that I think fans when they saw this journey start and they knew
how long it would likely take and they're on board for that journey, that
when they got to that destination, when they finally got to that championship match
with Roman, the feeling was that we would believe that he has a very
good chance, if not, he's the favorite to beat Roman, that finally
we're gonna see Roman drop the belt. That La Knight was going to be
that guy, and he's being treated now, at least in booking booking wise,
the most likely scenario is that he is the first in line of many
that Roman is going to face on his road to WrestleMania, likely culminating with
probably Cody Rhoads if the Rocks rumors of him not being at forty, and
I don't even want to get into that, but assuming the Rocks not there,
it probably is Cody Roads and Roman part two, And it looks like
Cody's going to be the guy at forty to beat Roman Reigns for the belt.
So that to me is also on WWE, not La Knight. Sure
La Knight can improve his promos a little bit and do some things here and
there, but largely this falls on creative for pushing him to this pos position
and being the guy one of probably three or four opponents leading to WrestleMania for
Roman Reigns, and obviously guy number one has no chance, almost none,
to beat Roman Reigns. And I think that's the most disappointment that fans are
feeling and pointing to, is that when they finally got the belt, the
opportunity for La Knight to capture the belt, we're looking at a match that
he has no chance of winning. And I think that's the sad part,
right, because even if he wasn't gonna win, Like, why didn't you
book this for another pay per view somewhere down the line here where you could
have built this more. Like I really thought that aj Styles was like the
perfect competitor to face Roman Reigns upon the latter's return. And that's not no
disrespect to AJ Styles. I think that he's probably been the unsung hero of
WWE for the last eight years or so and won the more underrated champions in
the history of the company. And to be honest, like I'm hoping he
does get another world title run before he eventually hangs them up. But it
just felt that La Knighton deserved more of a push. But at the same
time, if you think about it, if it wasn't gonna be Crown Jewel,
the next time could have been Royal Rumble because there is no pay per
view in December and Survivor Series is kind of like a like an exhibition pay
per view at this point, Like, I don't know if they're gonna do
raw vers and SmackDown. Sure seems like it's training that direction. Well,
they do Champion versus Champion, Are they going to do team Roman against Team
Seth. I don't know what they're gonna do, but it doesn't feel like
he's going to be defending that championship against anyone at Survivor Series. So I
guess they're saying to themselves like, hey, if we want to do La
Knight and Roman reigns at any point, it has to be Crown Jewel,
because in my opinion, this isn't the end for La Knight. I fully
expect him. Pardon me, and I guess it's my way, way,
way way way too early Royal Rumble prediction, but I fully expect Llia Knight
to win the Royal Rumble and cross over to Monday Night Raw and challenge over
the World Heavyweight Champion is which I mean, I guess that'd be a good
consolation prize, but in the here and now, that's still going to be
like, what a two and a half month wait before La Knight gets that
retribution of winning the Royal Rumble, assuming any of this is true and any
of my predictions are true. So that's what I think. I think this
is in Triple H's mind and Creative Creative's mind, they're saying like, okay,
like we're just gonna make him have to overcome one more obstacle and then
build him back up leading up to Rumble, and then he wins the Rumble
and goes over and challenges the World Heavyweight Champion. It's crazy that we're talking
about the World Heavyweight Championship as a consolation prize. Yeah, but it is.
I mean, it is in comparison to that unified championship, the undisputed
Belt. But that's actually where I was gonna go next, is the Rumble.
And Okay, let's assume and sure they could still shock the world and
have La Knight win it that at Crown Jewel. It's it's still it's still
possible. I'd say less than like a three percent chance, but it's still
possible. Outside of that very unlikely scenario La Knight loses, they could do
a Rumble scenario where he does win, but instead of challenging the World heavy
Championship, he challenges Roman. And what maybe what's coming to mind for me
is Daniel Brian before WrestleMania thirty. If you remember, Daniel Brian won the
championship at SummerSlam prior to WrestleMania, and that's when Randy Orton cashed in Triple
H turned heel, and they built from SummerSlam to Mania where Brian finally overcame
Triple H and then of course in the Triple Threat won the belt. So
my point is that I think it's possible that La Knight wins but doesn't win
where he gets completely screwed from someone somewhere. I hope it's not another interference
that we've seen, but it's possible. They do it where they tease it
and then he is, you know, the decision is reversed and he actually
hasn't won and he gets screwed completely. Roman retains, and then they build
to Rumble where Night wins and then Roman Reigns is forced to face La Knight
again at WrestleMania, and that's where La Knight beats Roman Reigns. It's possible,
but you're right either way, it looks like we have a La Knight
favorite to win this year's Royal Rumble, whether it's for the World's title or
a rematch with Roman Reigns. Actually, now that you mention it, the
main event booking of Roman Reigns over the last year or so, and we
praise Triple H about most of the things that he's done with Creative and specifically
like the mid card and the undercard and how he's really shown respect to like
all the televised wrestlers and telling a story for everyone. But one thing I've
kind of thought about, and this isn't. This isn't for the entirety of
the main event, because I do think with the women's matches it's been good
and seth and all that, but it feels like since he's taken over Creative
and we do have to take this a bit of like how much did Vince
have a say in it, Let's say, between WrestleMania now, But it
feels like every Roman Reigns match since Triple H took over has kind of been
cut from the same cloth. And that's not to say there was no interference
under Vince, or like no interference in Roman matches under Vince, but it
felt like Roman Reigns at least had some clean victories under Vince, like his
victory against Brock at WrestleMania thirty eight, or I believe he had a clean
victory over Edge if I'm not mistaken, or maybe I think he had a
clean victory over Edge for the most part, or at least if there was
interference, there's very little, and it just feels like maybe Triple H's a
weak point to like during being headed, Creative has been over booking Roman reigns
matches as to try and keep save the baby face from looking bad in any
fashion, really trying to protect the baby face at all costs. So I
mean, for you, have you noticed that trend under Triple H or am
I kind of grasp at straws here? No, I think there is some
validity to that. You know, I haven't actually sat and thought about that,
but as I think back on just a few matches, you could very
well be right now the idea of Triple H and his philosophies being played out.
We've only seen a little bit of that because he was Triple H took
over, then Vince came back, but we didn't know about it. Then
he we did. And now Triple H is truly taking over. So there
is a lot of kind of in and out with Vince having his fingers in
everything. But now that Triple H has fully taken over over the last month
or so, I think we can now look we can look for those things
that you outline, We can look for the interference. We can look for
the protection of the babyfaces, and what Triple H's philosophies are I think will
come really to a head and we'll really see them now that Vince is out
of the picture completely hopefully, so you know, but if Triple H was
involved heavily in the past, then yeah, I think you're right. You
know, Triple H does protect the babyfaces and and does over book at times,
Like you said, there has been I can think of how many matches,
especially Roman matches, that have been insanely overbooked and overthought and hard to
follow. And the end results is of course Roman winning at the end.
But we can now look from here forward and go, Okay, if this
is truly Triple H's game pun intended, then we can we can just judge
him moving forward instead of going, oh, well, Vince is still involved.
We don't know. Let's assume it's not and it's just Triple H.
So he answered a question, Yeah, I do see a little bit of
that. But also how often was Vince involved. It's really tough to know
over the last year. That's a good question because he forced his way back
in late January. I believe it was if I'm not mistaken. Yeah,
and then we really saw his fingerprints, I guess the following Raw after Mania.
So since then, I mean there's literally only been one title defense of
Romans since then. But I mean the Seth run has seemed very triple h
ask Well. I guess I'm not sure because the whole Fighting Champion seems like
something cut from Vince. But like the rebuilding of Shinskyn Aakamora, I think
that Vince maybe had his fingers in the pie with the main event level booking,
but there was still some good storytelling in the mid and lower cards,
so I feel like Vince was probably involved more in the main event stuff,
but I guess if there was any I guess strong part to Vince in the
later years was the big stage matches, the main event matches, because he
even would put on good WrestleManias and typically decent royal rumbles and all that.
It was just like the mid and lower cards and the B level pay per
views that were really not taken seriously by Vince. So I guess, I
guess to wrap up this whole topic of Vince, I guess that was his
strong suit in the later years was just his ability to focus on the main
event scene and the bigger pay per views. Yeah, Vince, I mean
that's what we were told he was doing, even though I think it was
more that certainly does feel like Vince he wanted to be involved in the top
stories. What's Roman doing, what's Seth doing? You know, now,
what's seeing A doing? Like that's been Vince's thing, and worrying about the
bigger stars and the bigger names, and especially later in his career career.
So we can assume that Vince had a say, and now to what degree,
we don't know, over the last eighteen months of Roman's run, and
now we can see what Triple H has envisioned from here on out, and
you know, I think we can judge him cleanly from here out as Triple
H's really first totally free pay per view that we can say. Okay,
this is all on Paul Levac. So all right, well, now that
we've covered La Night, I want to talk about a guy that we have
been talking about really since May of twenty twenty two. So this is going
back to seventeen months when he was actually injured in storyline by the bloodline.
Of course, I'm talking about the viper Randy Orton, and over these last
seventeen months a year and a half roughly, we have heard conflicting reports he's
done with wrestling. The doctors have told him, don't come back. Oh
he's on his way back. Oh he could come back here. Oh wait,
the doctors say, he's you know, he's never going to wrestle again.
But Randy Yorton doesn't care. Then he shows up at the Performance Center,
which was the biggest clue that he's actually coming back. And now there
are rumors that they have solidified his return plans and that his return is imminent.
So that's the latest. So I guess to you, first, are
you excited to see Randy Orton's likely but not guaranteed return in the near future
and what would you do with him? Off the bat? That's interesting.
So the first question, do I see him returning in the near future?
I would imagine so, right like, we're coming up on eighteen months of
him being absent, and that will be eighteen months probably in November, right
around Survivor series time. And I think Survivor Series this year is going to
be a major major event for WWE. Like obviously we have the cm punk,
rumors swirling around. Is he going to be there? Is he not
going to be there? Does WW want him or not? Well, they
sign him and then you have Randy Orton. And Orton is in a very
interesting spot because, I mean, as you've mentioned a lot of times,
who put him out of action on screen? At least it was the Bloodline.
His then partner has been released from WWE. In Matt Riddle, is
he going to go to raw? Is he going to go to SmackDown like?
Is he going to be heal? Is he going to be babyfaced like?
You can make the case that the pandemic version of Randy Orton was the
best ever version of Randy Orton, maybe aside from like the Viper gimmick when
he had legacy at his side in eight oh nine. In those years,
but what it showed is that Randy Orton can still be at his very best,
even at the age of forty three. And when he's at his very
best, there is hard you'd be hard pressed to find someone who does it
better than Randy Orton, And with him being forty three, you don't want
to just throw him away in a meaningless program. Now, does that mean
going up against Roman Reigns. I mean, I would like to say yes,
but I feel like his plate is full Roman Reigns. That is because
you still have John Cena floating around. What are you gonna do with Jay
Us? Although I don't think he's gonna have another match with Roman Reigns.
I think he's on a collision course with his brother Jimmy. So I mean,
I guess you could set up Randy Yorton against Roman Reigns as a stop
gap at Royal Rumble season. I really don't think there's going to be a
title defense at Survivor Series for Roman Reigns unfortunately. Or do you send him
to Monday Night Raw? But Monday Night Raw, for me, that main
event scene is probably full right up until WrestleMania, because I do see Drew
winning the championship sometime between now and Royal Rubble. Maybe that's at Crown Jewel
and then you could have him face off against maybe seth Rawlins one more time.
I think him and Sammy Zaine are probably gonna have a match for the
World Heavyweight Championship. Would you revisit Randy versus Drew who had a nice program
in late twenty twenty during the Pandemic Slash thunderdt Ome era. So I mean,
you have options with Randy. I don't know if he's gonna go right
in with the Roman Reigns, but I think that just based on how occupied
that raw side of the main event is, you would probably at this juncture
set up a Randy Orton versus Roman Reigns match for the Royal rumbole what about
you? That seems absolutely likely. It seems like the most logical scenario of
having a massive impact return would be against Roman, and it would be and
should be for the championship. Now, is there any chance again, as
we keep doing this and I feel like we've done this for three years where
we look at the opponents two, three, four months in advance and go,
Yep, nope, he'll face them, but nope, he'll face them,
but nope. And it's it's partly why the La Night thing burns you
so much, because he's actually a guy. You could have him, you'll
stop the streak. But Randy Orton is likely a guy. Even if he
faces Roman at Survivor Series, he's still likely in that line of guys that
is not going to beat Roman Reigns. And look I'm a Randy Orton fan.
He will get a massive reaction upon his return. So even if they
have ideas to turn him heel, you can't do it off the bat because
people are just going to be too excited to see him, So you probably
have to wait a little time to make that happen. So you absolutely could
do Roman and Randy off the bat. He'll be red hot, and I
think that is a perfect fit to also to tie up what happened eighteen months
ago, taking out Randy with a bloodline. You know the other options.
I'm thinking, well, he could be somebody to help vanquish the Judgment Day
on Raw. But when you look at who's opposing the Judgment Day, you
have Jayuso, and what did Jauso do? He helped put Randy on the
shelf. It wouldn't make sense Randy came back and aligned himself with Jay to
help take out the Judgment Day. And I know you have Cody there too,
but I think it does and he does end up on SmackDown as well.
It seems to be a better fit. He could work with the Solo
Socoa, he could work with Jimmy Uso, and of course Roman reigns because
the other side of the coin just doesn't seem to make sense right now with
jay Uso there unless WWE, and I could see them doing this too completely
ignores the fact that that happened and they just want to start him fresh.
I could see them hoping the fans forget or that they don't care about how
Randy Orton went out. Now we all know that it's not truly what happened.
It was storyline, but from what I understand, he actually had like
a backfusion surgery, So that to me is the most likely. I'm with
you, but it is probably a one off. And then after that in
December, there's nothing and you're in Rumble season and at the Rumble, who
could he face? I mean, I don't know, we're getting pay per
views ahead, but for you and I I think we've kind of locked in
La Knight, which is confirmed of course, and then Randy Orton. If
Randy Orton does return, then probably aj Styles. But you know that that
to me is a Randy Orton lock for a Survivor series. I just hope
they don't do this. The ridiculous brand versus brand, whether that was tease
this week or they do some exhibition nonsense that has no consequence whatsoever, and
they just play in the sandbox for three hours. So yeah, I'm I'm
with you. Yeah, I mean see, the thing for me is that
that that raw side of the main event just seems like it has so many
moving parts as opposed to the SmackDown side. It more or less seems set
in stone that we're seeing Cody Rhodes Roman Reigns Part two at WrestleMania for the
undisputed Championship, but on the raw side, like for me, like my
way too early prediction is Cody not Cody Drew mckett going in as a heel
to wrestling as the World Heavyweight Champion and the Royal Rumble winner being La Knight
to cross over and face him for the championship at Mania. But and I'm
pretty sure that they have a history going back with one another to TNA or
Impact whatever they're calling it this day of the week. But I believe that
they do have a history going back to TNA. But that's anything but set
in stone, because where does seth Rawlins fall in on this? Where does
Damian Priest and the money in the Bank contract fall in all of this.
Where does Randy Orton fall in all of this? Sammy Zaine, Like,
what are you gonna do with him? Like? For you, like we've
both kind of agreed that if it's not Rock Roman, which it doesn't seem
like it's going to be, it's going to be Rock Roman Cody. But
for the raw side of things in the World Heavyweight Championship, do you have
any idea where they're going right now? Well, I will say this and
an early spoiler, I will now this is not me hearing anything. It's
my own brain. This is to me a lock that Drew McIntyre wins,
and he should. I think he should win. And what I think will
happen is he'll win in a way that's questionable if you're a babyface. Maybe
he'll take advantage of you know, somebody coming into screw over Seth and you
know, you know, Seth gets hit with something and hits with a foreign
object and then he turns around Claymore and you know, Seth's championship reign is
over. So I think that this really solidifies Drew now in the heel category.
It does two things at once. It gets the belt off of off
of Seth, which I think is it's time. I think it's time.
We don't all need to compare it to Romans Run, which is egregiously long.
And now you can also turn Drew heel and have a heel champion going
into WrestleMania season, which is always almost always a better story to tell with
a heel champion going into WrestleMania, with babyfaces trying to climb the mountain to
topple the heel, that's almost always a better formula. So it kind of
knocks out two birds with one stone here. It achieves everything you wanted to
achieve. Seth is not going to be heard by this loss. So on
the raw side of things, you have Drew presumably as a heeled champion,
rolling into WrestleMania season. You have Cody Rhoades chomping at the bit, you
have Seth Rollins still chomping at the bit. I could see a couple of
triple threat matches with those three men in, maybe even Sammy's ain thrown in,
and for a fatal four way at the Survivors Series if they don't do
some war games nonsense, which is why this year, especially if you don't
do a pay per view in December. You can't do this like specialty crap
in November because you already don't have anything in December and you don't have Royal
Rumble to the end of January, so it's like two months of no pay
per views. You got to make no Survivor series count and not do this
silly exhibition crap or you know, all these gimmick. You got to further
the storylines. That's my opinion. But you probably you have Sammy thrown into
the mix, you have seth thrown into the mix. You have Cody and
the heel champion, Drew McIntyre where they're all in multiman matches and maybe it's
eventually a one on one with Drew and Cody. There's so many combinations with
those four men over the next couple of months going into then Rumble season that
you could easily fill enough time on Raw with main events, probably a championship
match thrown in here and there on top of a Survivors series, and that's
probably how it goes going into WrestleMania. And I do expect Drew to go
into WrestleMania as World Champion, yeah, and as he should. I think
that we've had enough time of Drew away from the main event, and I
think he's kind of paid his dues tenfold at this point, like he kind
of helped put over Gunther, like I would argue that aside from Gunther's first
program with Seamus last year, which was kind of like his first major feud
on the main roster, his biggest victory has come against Drew mac entire,
first in the in the three way match at WrestleMania and then in the singles
match at SummerSlam. So I think Drew is ready now, and I think
that Seth can survive, as you know, without the championship. I would
like to see him like in an ideal world, I think that he should
face Roman Reigns for the championship at Wrestume forty, but they're obviously not going
to go there. What he does at WrestleMania will be very very interesting,
But I just think either way, Drew is ready to carry that World Heavyweight
Championship. I think him a heel version of Drew McIntyre against La Knight would
be fun, and then l A. Knight could probably get his big victory
at WrestleMania. But I think that you would go in with two very good
looking main events on either side of the of the brands. And to be
honest, I would be more excited to see la and A versus Drew than
Cody Rhoades versus Roman. Oh, no doubt about it. Yeah that,
I mean, it kind of seems that's the way they're going. And you
know, could they shake things up somebody unexpected wins the rumble? Of course.
I mean we've got a lot of time to speculate, but that seems
to be as of this very day, on October twenty third, that that
is where they are headed. Are those two main events Cody versus Roman two
where already, I mean, you have a massive favorite. I couldn't imagine
Cody going into that match and actually not winning this time. I mean he
is he would be out of every match Romans had in three and a half
years defending his belt. That Cody wouldn't be the most highly favored opponent to
win the match out of all of his opponents on all of his title defenses.
So he'd nearly be guaranteed to beat Roman Reigns at WrestleMania forty and get
his stupid moment and all that stuff. So, but you're right, I
would much more look forward to Drew McIntyre in the main event defending his championship
against La Knight. You're absolutely right, and that to me even if La
Knight wins, Like, would you rather see La Knights capture the World Championship
or would you rather see him if you had an opportunity, would rather have
him beat Roman? And you know, assuming Roman retains against Cody, or
would you rather have La Knights take the World Championship from a jermacintire. Well,
I mean it's weird because last week we spoke about how nothing would justify
Roman Reigns's run, like no payoff, and I feel like La Knight when
justified either, and I feel like that wouldn't be doing La Knight's rise justice.
So like, in some way I kind of want him to win the
World Heavyweight Championship instead, just so he could kind of blaze his own trail
and be on Monday Night Row. Like. I know he's become a staple
of SmackDown, but I feel like on SmackDown, even though he has been
presented as the top babyface, like he still has kind of felt a little
bit not buried, but overshadowed, Like John Cena has had to like kind
of hold his hand along through all this, and I don't really think that
that's been needed, you know, you still, and this is more on
creative like because we haven't seen them really in the rain together that much.
They haven't really presented ellen Knight as an equal to Roman reigns. So I
never thought I would say this, but I'm envisioning both championship victories and him
walking around with both titles and being on both brands. But I think that
he would actually be better served weighing the World Heavyweight Championship and becoming the face
of Monday Night Raw. And there are actually some advantages to that, you
know, because also whoever beats Roman is say it is Ellen Knight, the
title reign that they have is obviously not going to be anywhere near what Roman
has done. Even if they have a six to eight month run with the
belt, which is about average, you would look at that and go,
wow, that was really short. But it's all because now whoever's holding that
belt, we would all compare to Romans run, which, for better or
worse, is the way that it's going to be. But with the World
Heavyweight Championship being resurrected. I think that you could look at that and think
that, wow, okay, six to eight month of a run. That's
that's solid. That feels like a long run, you know. So it's
all kind of how you look at it. But it's almost as if whoever
wins that belt is going to be cursed from the start because they're going to
probably drop it in the average amount of time to whoever you know is in
the storyline the next take the belt. So yeah, I would actually agree
with that. And also I do kind of want Elle Knight on RAW.
I know that he's on SmackDown, and SmackDown is kind of the land of
bigger stars right now in higher ratings and all that. I get it,
but I don't know why Alley Knight feels like he belongs on RAW. It
feels like that seems to be for me, a nice home for him.
Raw, even though sometimes the numbers in star Power don't show it still feels
to me like the flagship show, probably because it's been around for longer and
has so many great moments in my mind of things that have happened over the
years. But I think La Knight could really help elevate the Monday Night Raw
brand, and if they ever initiate a trade, La Knight coming to Monday
Night Raw could be the way to help both La Knight and Raw. And
then the only way that can happen at this point is him winning the Royal
Rumble. You do you would you agree that he should win the rumble no
matter what the case is. I can't make a case for anyone else,
really, yeah, because you're not gonna have Cody went it back to back
years. I mean you could, but I mean I don't think you want
to put him in stone Cold Steve Austin territory. I hop though. I
wouldn't put it past WWE and they're yeah, and have him commit number thirty
again. Yeah exactly. But look, it's such low hanging through have Ella
Knight win the row rumble. I think that, especially after his and I
think it's fair to say, like he's going to lose that crown jewel,
like we all know that, so you're gonna have to build him back up
after a massive loss for two and a half months. It just makes all
the sense of the world. And then by that time you're gonna presumably have
Drew seasoning on Monday Night or on Yeah Monday Night raws the World Heavyweight Champion
and then the the I guess the Elimination Chamber pay per view in Australia will
help set up the contender for the undisputed Championship, and they've used the Chamber
as a number one contenders match before, kind of like a Royal rumble light,
so I would imagine Cody Rhads would win that in Australia. So I
mean, that's how I kind of see things shaking out. And I mean,
at this point, if they face off again, even though I really
do everyone knows that you and myself dislike Cody Rhods, I think that if
they were to face off again at resume at forty, you would have to
give Cody the like. As much as I dislike the Cody Rhads character,
it would be just extremely disrespectful to have them lose in back to back manias
against Roman, you know, putting aside, and it's very difficult to put
aside my feelings for his babyface character because it's just one of the worst I've
ever seen in my life. But putting that aside and all personal feelings aside,
looking at this completely objectively, You're right. There is no way they
can have Cody go in again and lose again. You just can't. It
would damage Cody Rhoades pretty significantly. And I think it would just put honestly
a ton of heat on the company itself, not just on Roman, who's
just doing what he's told to do, but on the company. I think
you can't. You just can't do that, you know. So you're right.
If any way shape or form, Cody faces Roman at Mania game overs,
game set match, the streak is over, there's no way you can
get out of that. Cody wins and he gets his moment, we can
all finally move on for his story. So I mean, like I'm ready
to close the book. I don't even want to read the rest of it.
I just want to shut the book and throw it in a fireplace.
But for me, I'm looking at the raw side of things, and like
we just said, I'm more excited for if they're not going to and look,
we're just assuming that Knight's going to not chase Roman again. I mean,
if he wins the Rumble, he if there's a choice there, he
probably it would make no sense if he doesn't challenge Roman again. But I
could see where he would go after the world title, leaving Roman open for
whoever challenges him, and as we just said, it probably is Cody somehow.
Now, I don't know how Cody gets there because unless he wins the
tag titles again, how exactly he gets there Unless it's some kind of you
know, a request to Adam Pearson that Adam Pierce has to talk to Nick
all this and create this interpromotional match, it's you know, there's ways to
do it, but you know, with with Triple H as we talked about
at the beginning, here one great change I've already noticed though, just in
a couple of weeks he's been in charge, he actually so far has respected
the brand split. Where when Jay showed up on SmackDown, there was security
chasing him out of the arena. That makes sense because the guy shouldn't be
there, so there is that. I think that they'll do something at the
Chamber like three guys from Raw, three guys from SmackDown, and the winner
faces Roman Reigns of WrestleMania, and Cody will be part of that match,
and then it will kind of like in a way, or they'll or they
could do something like La Knight chooses to go to Monday Night Raw because he
won the Royal Rumble, and then SmackDown gets compensation something like that. Those
are the two best options, I'd imagine. But I also think that you
want to give some validity to the elimination Chamber match. And last year they
had it for the United States Championship in Montreal. I remember that very very
well and it did elevate the US title. But I mean I think that
you want to feel a bit more special, especially in Australia this time around.
And yeah, you can make the case that a mid card championship would
feel more special than a number one contenders match, But if the main event
of WrestleMania or one of the main events of Wrestminga is on the line,
I mean that could feel pretty damned special too. So those are the two
situations. I think that you could get Cody Rhoades on SmackDown to face Roman
absolutely. I mean, they'll find a way as they And the thing is,
they even teased it already a couple of weeks ago when he was on
SmackDown with Jay as the tag champion, which was very well done. Agreed,
I totally agree. Again, you and I take nothing away from Cody's
entering ability, even his promo ability. You know, he does feel like
a star, even though when you look at it just completely logically, you're
just like, he shouldn't be, Like, we don't know why he just
came back from aw He was not a starready left other than a star dust,
he wasn't anything. He just goes to a competing company and comes back
anyway, But yeah, I agree, it did seem like a big moment.
Even though you and I despise his baby face character, there was nice
tension. The body language was perfectly done, and it was a signal to
the fans of we haven't forgot this will Part two will happen, and it'll
happen sometime in the next probably six months. So I would agree with that
we can still hate the character but appreciate the storyline and appreciate the effort and
execution, So that is possible those two things can be true at once.
Yeah, And to be honest, I think that if this is the avenue
they choose to go down, like, I think that my want to see
the championship off of Roman Reigns is now starting to outweigh my dislike for Cody
Rhodes to a point where I'd probably be cheering for Cody Rhoads, which is
crazy to say, Well, no, I understand where you're coming from,
but I think that that would be short lived because you're just cheering for that
moment to happen. And then with him a week after we coming out and
cutting his promos about how he was just make us happy and kissing babies on
the way to the ring, I think that would quickly wear on you and
go, oh, yeah, that's right, I know, I'm out.
He was to keep the title reign of Roman reigns going no, no,
no, no no. So I'm so there is a massive stipulation here.
Yes, I would agree that I really don't care who it is that takes
the belt off of him, even if it's Cody, great take it off
of him. But then after that moment passes and we get what we want
I want Cody to, you know, him as a babyface champion will be
insufferable because you already you can already hear the speech. You can already hear
him talking about his dad, you can already hear him talking about finishing his
story. But then he's going to create a second book or something stupid he'll
come up with. You can already hear him, you know, or see
him smiling with his you know, fifty shades of white teeth, you know,
his eighty quest strip whites that he uses every day. You can see
him out there just being insufferable. I already feel it, and then you'll
immediately go, oh, that's right, Well Roman's no longer champion. That's
awesome, but now we got to deal with this smiling buffoon every single Monday
night raw, I mean, or every single SmackDown. So there are it's
a double edged sword here. But I would take the Roman loss, yes,
yeah, And it sucks saying that, because you're right, it would
suck having Cody Rhoads a champion. But it's just like I'm at the point
right now where it's like it's gotten to the point now where I don't even
feel like it's special to see Roman anymore, because it's just like, oh,
how nice of you to graces with your presence. But like I know
they're trying to take the Brock approach, and like Brock was a part time
champ, but that was kind of Brock's thing, and Brock had options outside
of WWE legitimately and was a real life badass, so it made more sense.
And I don't know, it's just I never thought I would see the
day where I would be I would and not to say I want a Cody
run, I don't, But I never thought I would see the day where
I'd be saying I would prefer a Cody Rhodes run rather than prolonging Rowan reins
Is run. So but unfortun that's kind of like where I'm at. Yeah,
no, I'm with you, And just to close it out, it's
more that we want a Roman loss than a Cody win, if that makes
it exactly, it's only because Cody is being Yeah, he's being put in
this position and choosing between the two evils. We're going to choose the lesser
of two evils, which is Roman Regins's run coming to an end, even
if it's not putting the belt on somebody that you and I particularly are fond
of. So, yeah, like choosing between those two things, Sure we
would choose Cody. It's not ideal, but we were our hands are forced
here, so I think that's the best way to put it. But all
right, that I think wraps it up. But before we go, I
know that you did drop a very fun, irrelevant after dark show this past
week leading up to WrestleMania forty and just let everyone know quickly, just briefly,
what that was about. That can be found on the after Dark show
Guys by the Way, on the SmackDown Side, SmackDown Tier and higher on
Patreon. Yeah, so I dropped a show centered around the WrestleMania outlook now
that Triple H is in charge. I did something similar a few weeks ago,
but changed it up now since Vince McMahon has been removed from Creative officially,
or at least we've been led to believe via Aerol Area Manual, I
always mix his name up with Ariel Hawani. I always mixed me too,
at a lot of different men that I'm with you. Yeah, but yeah,
I know a lot of it is what I just said, like Cody
Rhodes versus Actually, you know what now they think about it? I think
I said that now we may be seeing seth Rollins versus Roman Reigns. I
forget what I went with, but I'll definitely La and I versus Drew McIntyre.
I locked that in and I do think that CM Punk is going to
play a majorax factor between what ends up happening at WrestleMania. Oh yeah,
lots of conflicting reports there too. There's so many with Punk's doing that.
Oh now he's in TNA. Yeah, it's all over the damn place.
Yeah, so we are now though, guys, I could officially probably say
it's not WrestleMania season, but it's pre WrestleMania season. Like we're in the
preseason, if you I mean, for those in like any major sports is
preseason sometimes those Yeah, exactly spring training exactly if you're a baseball fan or
whatever, spring training or preseason, whatever you want to say. We're in
the preseason or spring training of WrestleMania. So like we can kind of see
who what the players are with the you know, the chips, and where
WW is trying to place them. We can now finally look at those things
and it's going to be a lot of fun from here up until April was
I don't even know, April first, second, third, whatever the hell
the date is for WrestleMania forty in Phillies. So all right, well that'll
conclude our current state of WW. Next week guys, though, is going
to be already a pl e week with our preview prediction show that'll be coming
late next week, and I'm interested to hear your thoughts next week. Then
maybe they'll be our topic of you know, looking ahead specifically to Crown Jewel
and maybe getting your thoughts and predictions heading into the So thanks so much for
joining me, Man, and we will talk soon looking forward to it.
Man, take care you too. Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast.
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