Current State of WWE: How Long Does The Rock Stay Heel? Fantasy Booking WrestleMania 40

Hey guys, we don't get too serious usually on this show, but there
is an organization that really could use your help. It's called Color Me Love.
It's color Colo you are, and you can actually check out the website
colormelove dot com. And what they do is provide a lifeline to children who
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it's called colormelove dot com. It's c O l O you are Melove dot
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again. You can go to the go fundmelink or directly to colormelove dot
com. Again, guys, this is an organization that is absolutely worth your
time and any donation that you can spare. It's going to the best cause
possible, So check them out. Color melove dot com. This is WWE
superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to the WWE podcast dot show. The one
that everybody wants me tell stood for sixteen says, just g your ass is
my eye. You're gonna acknowledge me. Welcomes in current state of WWE.
Anthony DeMarco is with me as always every single Monday nights. As raw is
going on as we speak. So we're going to tackle a topic at this
time that is on the minds of a lot of people. Now, I
know this is a topic that seems to be over discussed or overanalyzed, but
you haven't heard Anthony and I together yet, right, So that's that's the
new part of it. But we also haven't deep dived into this yet with
the Rock and his babyface character versus the heel character. We're going to get
into that and some other things. But man oh man, we are in
the we're on the road to WrestleMania in a big way and one of the
most bizarre kind of twist and turns that we've seen in WWE in the last
I don't know how many years with the Rock coming back and turning heel.
I don't think anyone saw that coming. But here we are, Anthony,
how you doing not too bad? Man? And you're right obviously they pulled
the handbrake. They called an audible whatever analogy you want to use. But
as someone and I believe I've said it with you that as someone who is
a massive rock fan but has criticized the Rock promos and the Rock character when
he has come back pretty much for the last ten years, like if you
copy paste the last I don't know eight Rock promos, going back to his
promo against Bray Wide at restume thirty two, and no I'm not counting his
match against Eric Rowan. They've pretty much all been cut by from the same
cloth. They've pretty much all been the same formula. Comes out, makes
fun of the guy, does his greatest hits and then lays the SmackDown on
them. And I've always said, like, if you're gonna come back,
be the Rock don't be Dwayne Johnson. And it seems that since his full
time ish run in twenty twelve twenty thirteen, he's pretty much come back and
been the Rock. But like Dwayne the Rock, Johnson like coming back wearing
his own underarmour line, no sunglasses, always like kind of being more jokey
and stuff, always smiling, which is okay. But now we're seeing the
Rock and even just his attire paying homage to the Hollywood Heel version with the
vest but the two thousand corporate Rock version with the oversized Gucci shirt obnoxious five
hundred dollars whatever it is, and running down the crowd. And it's so
great to see because you've seen interviews with Brian Gowertz, the Rock's personal writer
for Some Bucks Production, who used to be the head writer for Monday Night
Raw, and he's always said that he believed that the Hollywood Heel version of
the Rock was the best version and it was one that didn't get enough legway
or traction because it was only around. That version of the Rock was only
around from February of three to April of three, in his final full time
run with the company, ultimately putting over Goldberg at Backlash two and three.
But now we get to see the Rock for the first time in well over
ten years, I would say, and it's absolutely amazing. And to be
honest, like a lot of people are complaining and debating, well, you
know, this wasn't what they were going for. They did want to do
Rock Roman, you know, they had to adjust or like, I don't
care. I really do not care, because at the end of the day,
this is what was for the best and I love what we're getting.
And it feels like you've mentioned it, the Rock is in it for the
long game and we are eventually going to get to Rock versus Roman. But
if we get to see a heel version of the Rock, not just Dwayne
the Rock Johnson, I'm all here for it. That was a good summation
of it. It's infinitely more entertaining and I'm still a Babyface Rock fan.
But you're right. Everything from the appearance he made on Fox when they first
made their SmackDown move to Fox when he you know, took out Baron Corbin
to the latest of Gennermal Hall, all these kind of throwaway, tossaway heels
that you know aren't going to be in a program with the rock they're there
to just be the butt of the joke and take a people's elbow or a
rock bottom, and it's still entertaining. You don't get me wrong, but
there is kind of a staleness to it. And I hate saying that I
sound like a spoiled wrestling fan, but there is there's a staleness to it
where it's still fun and cool. But there's my wish there were more,
and now we're getting it. So you know, if this is a pivot,
and we you and I believe it is, we can all thank the
Cody cry babies for this version. Because this was not in the plans.
This was not something that the WWE decided that they were going to do is
come in and have everybody get on Twitter and they're gonna be this big movement.
If they orchestrated that, I mean you and I talked about this before,
I mean, if they did, I mean their masterminds to have that
many variables in place to hope that the fans create this movement, to create
this hashtag, to get the fans to not only get angry on Twitter,
but then get angry in person, and the rock and Rocky sucks. Chance.
That's a big gamble if they're really pres if we're pretending that that was
by design, but you and I don't think it is. It's beside the
point, though, because the Cody Kraibabies have allowed us to see the best
version of the Rock, and it's it's to the point where when he comes
out, even though he gets booed when he's you know, he runs down
the crowd, the crowd is so entertained now by what they see with those
five hundred dollars shirt. It's kind of a nostalgic feel that we haven't seen
since two thousand and three when he took when Goldberg took him down and he
went back to Hollywood, and you know, he's been kind of here and
there and back ever since, but it's been infinitely more entertaining. He also
has more freedom as a heel, and you'll hear that from anybody that as
a heel, there's not a lot of lines you need to stay within.
So he can't just come back and be, oh, there's Dwayne. He
used to play the Rock, which is how we felt it was Dwayne playing
a character that we felt really invested in, and now he can't do that
as a heel. You can't be half asked on this. He has to
go all in and he is so to me, Yeah, this is great.
I love the fact that you know he's coming out there, and sure
he may be dropping hints. We'll get into that about whether or not he's
gonna turn a little bit later, but right now, this this babyface character
that he's transformed into a heel. I mean, coming out it's almost a
term of endearment, like if I'm getting if I'm in the crowd and he's
pointing at some guy telling, hey, fatty, you know I'll come out
there and slap the herpes off your lips or something like like, that's hilarious.
I mean I wouldn't. I would, I would not get angry and
boo the rock. That is just comedy gold. It's just so vintage.
I don't know. I think even though this is a heel version and he's
getting booze, I think the crowd is ultimately going to be so entertained by
this that it's gonna keep him or turn him babyface, whether he likes it
or not. I mean, you even heard Rocky Chance on smackdownds. Well,
yeah, it's because he's coming back and tapping into the nostalgia like for
guys like you and me, Like that promo that he cut was ripped right
out of you know, twenty one to twenty four years ago because even as
a baby face, he was I was cutting edge, and he really got
away from that the last ten years or so. Like you mentioned, it
was always Dwayne coming back to play the rock because oh yeah, that's how
he bade his name fifteen twenty twenty five years ago. But he finally channeled
just the rock. And not to say that he has to be a heel,
Like I remember his first promo when he came back on Valentine's Day twenty
eleven, like that was the rock, but he was a babyface, but
he stayed in the rock character. And now it's like he had gone away
from it because the more that he got popular in Hollywood. And understand,
it's a PG product and you have to maintain the persona that you're building up
in the Hollywood scene. Like I completely get it, but it really kind
of dumbed it down. Like the last two promos before this with Jinder Mahal
and Austin Theory. You could copy and paste those and they were the same
thing, same thing with Becky Lynch and Baron Corbin from twenty nineteen, or
from with Russev back in when thirteen or whatever. It was like it was
always the same formula, and I get it, but it was just like,
I don't want to see that. I want to see the Rock be
the Rock. If you're going to come back and you know, like reprise
the character, then do it properly. And he wasn't doing that as a
babyface. And to be fair, we didn't know. It seemed like he
isn't it for the long game. So maybe if the Cody Cry Babies wouldn't
have revolted the way they did, perhaps we would have seen the Rock really
reprise the role of a babyface, but in that cutting edge character. But
either way, we're getting a version of the Rock that is back from in
the day. And look, does that mean that he has to be stuck
back in the late nineties early two thousands, For sure not. But like,
one thing that I liked about him is that he just told the truth.
It's like, and I believe you mentioned this on Twitter, is that
he literally said, just like you guys had it in the Palm of your
hands, a main event that would have been one of the biggest WrestleMania,
and you flushed it down the toilet. And that's funny because it's true.
And he literally kept saying you boo because it's true. And like you said,
it's going to just inherently become endearing with the Rock acting this way,
because it's gonna make people realize, like, man, this is why the
WWE wanted to bring him back and shoehorn him into a main event role,
because when he's on, there's few that are better. Yes, And the
biggest key I think that you mentioned here that I think everyone should really understand
is the when Dwayne Johnson comes back, whether it's a babyface or a heel.
It has been since the time that he left really the last time in
four he came back for a quick stint with the Rock and Sock connection at
WrestleMania twenty and then ever since then. I mean, like you said,
he came back in twenty eleven after that on Valentine's Day, of which I
was on a date. I was very angry that I missed it. I'm
still saucy about that, but I My big thing though, is that and
again, everybody should understand the investment in a character when you come back needs
to be authentic, and it hasn't been really for the longest time. And
it feels like again it's Dwayne playing a character forever. It felt like that
him coming back as a babyface, and now with him as a heel,
it feels much more like this is almost like who he is, which is
kind of more hilarious. Saying that your life has meaning now that I'm here,
you know, and running down the trailer park trash line. I haven't
heard him say trailer park trash and I mean fifteen years So that line was
a throwback, and there were some other ones I can't remember off the top
of my head. But the dropping the ball was a big key moment for
me because it's exactly what it was. I'm like, yes, you fools
drop the biggest main event that we could have seen. Now We're still gonna
get it at some point and probably in the next year. But it is
true that the movement on Twitter that translated into in person has completely shifted the
plans and has dropped the ball for this year. So that was absolutely true.
And I don't know a couple things how you feel about this number one?
How do you feel about a change in music. He's so far has
kept his traditional music that he has as a babyface, and the people still
react very positively to it. But do you think he should go back to
the Hollywood entrance that only got three months to really showcase itself or do you
think that would really because people will be so nostalgic for it, make it
actually an even bigger reaction, or maybe a different version altogether. So that's
the first question. Well, I'm not gonna lie. I've never liked this
current version of his theme. I know he's used it since twenty eleven when
he first returned on Valentine's Say that you just alluded to. But for his
Babyface themes, I always liked the ones that he used in the early two
thousands, either the rock says where it's kind of like repeating throughout the song
that he actually restarted using when he returned at WrestleMania twenty to team with mcfoley
and his several returns that followed in that year against like Coach and Larrazi,
Stalins and the Divs Search and all that. And then the other one was
the one he used in like two thousand and one to two thousand and two
when he came out against haul Kogen. So this version with like the heavy
electric guitar, I've never been a super big fan of, so for that
alone, I wouldn't be opposed to changing. Yet Now I do think that,
like you've mentioned this before, when you change characters that heavily and you
go to a heel like or a baby face like, sometimes the song needs
to change. Now. Sometimes, look, it could work both ways,
like Drew McIntyre, I think has a theme song that works both ways,
Kevin Owens works both ways, Triple H works both ways, Kane works both
ways. But then even look at Steve Austin, he changed to the disturbed
versi where like you had like an actual song play in the back. I
think it was actually called Glass Shatters. And you've had the Rock change his
theme song in the past as well. And I think if you go back
to either like do you Smell what the Rock is cooking when he was in
a corporate setting, or just the Hollywood heel version where it was just a
very slow down version, it would make a lot of sense because you have
to kind of really lean into it. And it's almost like a Pavlonian response
if I'm pronounce to that right that when you hear if you smell, the
crowd is just by default going to pop. And they did this past Friday
on SmackDown. And I think that that's why ten or eleven years ago at
this point they shifted it to that old theme of like the helicopter like scouring.
I think I guess it was Los Angeles, and then you just heard
it's cooking and then it just went into that slow, deep drop of the
Rock's version of the new theme. And I I think he actually debuted that
in No Way out in Montreal eleven years ago. So I think just for
that, to avoid the Pavlovian response of if you smell, it would be
in everyone's best interest to shift his theme song. I'm all for it.
I mean, I think that, like you said, it is warranted sometimes
in this big of a heel turn, I think it's almost necessary, especially
given we don't know how long the heel run's gonna go. It could go
through WrestleMania and then he'll turn baby face again. It could go longer,
it could go all the way to the end of next year before he presumably
faces Roman at WrestleMania forty one. We don't know, but if there is
any kind of longevity to this and you want people to really buy in,
that's another signal that that WWE usually sends when it's a big turn is changing
in music. There are, like you said, there are theme musics that
don't need to change. You don't need to create theme music for every single
heel turn and babyface turn. I mean, my god, how many versions
would there be? I mean, big show, think about that. He'd
had like forty one versions of his song theah Urcane right, So obviously not,
but there are certain times that it kind of puts an exclamation point behind
the turn, and I think this is one, and I think fans would
also really enjoy it, and especially if this is the only chance we're going
to get to see the Rock as a heel, which I believe this is
probably it for this run. I don't anticipate after this heel run, however
long it goes, that we're going to see the Rock as a heel again.
I very much doubt it because this is something unexpected, but I think
it's going to be very successful. So that was my first question. The
other one is were you bothered by Excuse me, guys, I'm still by
battling a cold. I'm almost done with it. But the fact that The
Rock was insinuating that Cody Rhodes just decided to face Roman Reigns and he felt
he had the right to and just completely either forgot, which is possible,
or he purposely did it to piss off the fans. That Cody didn't just
decide he has the right, he earned it by winning the rumble. The
Rock didn't even acknowledge the fact that Cody Rhods won the Rumble. I mean,
how do you even how does that get skipped? So do you think
that was did it bother you? And do you think it was by design?
Or did the Rock completely miss that point? Hey, guys, we
don't get too serious usually on this show, but there is an organization that
really could use your help. It's called Color Me Love. It's color col
O you are and you can actually check out the website colormelove dot com.
And what they do is provide a lifeline to children who need hope and healing.
They turn trauma into transformation and every child's story of healing is heard and
honored. It's more than just a program, though, it promises every child
is not alone in their struggles. So how does a contribution actually help the
children? It builds a safe and welcoming facility or haven. It purchases where
it supplies equipment and other therapeutic materials. It funds professional counseling services. It
covers the cost of daily essential needs based items. It ensures ongoing support and
development of their programs and the safety of their community. I mean, what
better cause could you donate to? Again? It's called colormelove dot com.
It's col o you are melove dot com. They also have a GoFundMe.
I'll put the link to the GoFundMe in the description notes of this show.
If you want to make a contribution again, you can go to the gofundmelink
or directly to colormelove dot com. Again, guys, this is an organization
that is absolutely worth your time and any donation that you can spare. It's
going to the best cause possible, So check them out. Color melove dot
com. For me, honestly, I didn't even acknowledge it because I was
just so encapsulated by his promo, which I really really liked one of his
best promos he's done in probably the last ten years. And I'm just gonna
go ahead and assume it's because he was just disregarding the Rumble victory and in
his mind, The Rock, Roman Reigns and the Bloodline is more important than
anything relating or within WWE. That's the way I'm gonna take it. I
think that they've paid more attention to detail under Triple H, and I'm gonna
give them the benefit of a doubt. I just think that it was trying
to further insinuate and place his character in the stratosphere of just not giving it,
you know what, and no matter what they think, or what others
think, or what other matches mean, or what anything means, titles,
pay per views, whatever, the Bloodline takes precedent. So that's the way
I took it, just because that was pretty much the entire point of the
of the promo was just to really drive home that The Rock believes that his
family and that faction with Roman Reigns is the most important thing in professional wrestling.
Because he used professional wrestling several times. Yes, I you know what,
I'll buy that, and I'll I will I won't even call out w
for that kind of loophole. Maybe maybe they'll bring it up, but it's
not going to bother me. The only thing that I would say bothers me.
He's really on the Cody side. I'm not trying to dive into Cody.
You and I could, but it's more of just his character. How
about let's just focus on the story not rather his baby face character that you
and I seem to just delve into every time, and that is are you
bothered by the fact on the Cody road side that he never explained to the
fans his character never did why the hell he decided to switch from you know,
which was presumably Seth too and allowing the Rock to come in and take
his place to to Seth rollins. And the fact that he just said to
us, well, it's because of you, which is a whole bs answer,
is because of you, guys. It's like, no, it's what
do you I've said this before, it is it's not because of us,
because if it was, it would be this sudden blast movement for Cody Rhoads.
No, the fans have been asking for this for like two years.
I mean, he's been getting very much sustained support for two years now,
since WrestleMania thirty eight. So, I mean that's a nonsense excuse that they're
just glazing over and they're not even bothering it. I mean, that's a
big thing to say. Hey, I'm the Royal Rumble winner. I'm saying
on camera that's the belt I want, but I don't want it at WrestleMania.
Well wait a minute, you're not gonna tell us what made you decide
to pick Roman Reigns to me, I don't care if it's Cody Rhoads or
whoever. Like, that's a pretty big gap, and like, what the
hell? Man? Yeah, I mean I think that just go there further
shows that they did have to pull the handbrake and call an audible here,
that they have been kind of doing damage controlled no pun intended for How long
ago did they call an audible on this? Has it been too or close
to it? Yeah? Close to it? Yeah. So they've had more
or less three ISSU shows, Like, yeah, I guess if you count
the if you count the press event, I guess it's four shows. They've
had to kind of really deal with this backlash, and I think for them,
they're thinking that, you know, what else could they do in the
meantime before they kind of address that there's a clear plot hole here, because
that's a major plot hole, like why did Cody just completely pull a one
eighty And maybe we'll never get that answer, maybe for them, him just
rethinking about it because to be fair, Oh well, no, I guess
he did say just not at WrestleMania, right, He flat out said that
he wasn't going to challenge Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, and we never did get
a full response from him, So like, I'm waiting for that because was
he not supposed to be unsmackedown past week? I thought he. I thought
they advertised him, but then either things got switched or it's very possible that
I misread what the advertisements were for the following week's SmackDown. I thought they
said Cody was gonna be there or it was rumored to be there. But
then all of a sudden, I see, well, will Cody Rhodes interrupt
the rock segment? Will? And I'm like, oh, well, maybe
he's not advertised. I can't say for sure. Maybe I totally misread it.
Well, so for me, like I'm maybe on Monday Night Raw Tonight,
We're gonna get that explanation. They're clearly slow burning this one hundred percent,
and I think that they should do it. Maybe he's gonna explain it
on the Grayson Waller effect at Elimination Chamber in Australia. But at the same
time, WWE has a history for just letting things go by the wayside,
and maybe they're hoping that the rock star power and Roman reigns and all this
is enough to just make fans forget about it. But a simple explanation could
be of what Cody kind of said, but it elaborate on that it is
for you guys, like you guys made me realize that this was more important
than shelving this and paving the way for the rock Like there's a lot of
ways that you can make this story even deeper, And maybe they eventually go
that way, because he's already alluded to the fact that he did it for
the fans, So maybe, slowly but surely he'll peel back that onion.
It'll be like I did for you guys, because you made me realize that
nobody wants to see all bloodline all the time, and this is more important
and the Rock manipulated me. So I'm gonna hold out hope that that's the
angle they're going to go towards, just because they somewhat alluded to it already.
It's a low bar that they have to cross here for me because I'm
still coming off with the Vince McMahon major plot hole stories. They never tell
you why things happen. I'm still I'm still not happy about the fact that
they never told us why brock Lesnar attacked Cody Rhodes and they had like a
six month program with like three matches or so, and they never told us,
And I'm still that kind of crap. No, just go ahead.
The fans don't care their big enough stars, so I have a very much
low bar, and it's possible they just glossed over it and go out of
the fans it's good enough for them. They don't care. They just want
to see the match. It's possible that they just completely ignore it, and
that was their non answer last week. So for you and I, I
mean, I'd like to know, it's a pretty easy thing, like you
said, to explain. But in part two of this conversation is a lot
of people talking about this promo that the Rock cut, and really looking at
the signs the potential signs of him turning on Roman Reigns. The two biggest
were him holding up the almost an L not a one but an L at
the end of his segment and number two when he said that he's gonna make
you come out of WrestleMania a loser. Yes, so it could have been.
And I looked at several angles. It does look like he's pointing in
Roman Reigns direction, so that could have been a hint those two things.
There were some other things about you know you're gonna end, We're gonna end
your story and ours is just beginning, meaning his enrollmans is just beginning.
I don't know. I mean, there's there were a few things that really
you could it's evidence if you really are hunting for it. So do you
think this was purposeful? I mean, it's really difficult for him with the
rock. How do you screw up just putting up one finger and you do
an L That that's a pretty big difference. So I don't know, what
what do you think? Yeah, No, it's a very weird Easter egg.
Like the the loser sign was pretty apparent. Would you not say yes.
So the camera work thing is more or less like you could take it
one way, you could take it another, but it was for me it
was the it was the loser l thing that to me was the one that
was really apparent that I don't know what that was about, because why would
you point up a loser l what everyone around you is doing the one?
So I think they are one hundred percent laying groundwork here that he's going to
turn on Roman Reigns at some point. I'm not sure if it's in the
best interest of them to do it at WrestleMania, because I feel like people
will maybe revolt and be like, oh, like Cody had to do it
on his own, and you've kind of touched on it that if there is
interference, you would have to do it without. You would have to do
it without John Cena or Steve Austin or whoever actually hitting Roman Reigns himself,
Like you have to make it like a clean victory for Cody Rhodes. But
that's why I'm kind of hesitant to kind of think, like, man,
they're really gonna do this at Mania, but they're clearly are signs that they
are laying the groundwork for a Rock Babyface turn against Roman Range eventually, that
seems to be the case. That's a pretty big mistake. If it's not,
I can't look at it as a mistake. There's no way that somebody
like the Rock is going to miss a one instead of an L. I
mean, it's just if that's a mistake, that's a hilariously bad mistake.
But I think it is not, and it's purposeful, and it's it has
a reason for it. And what does that L mean? Loser? Obviously
right, I mean, we all know what the L is, but it
could mean something else. I guess maybe it'll go back to the Golden Easter
Egg somehow, who knows, I mean, but I think it is him
saying that Roman Reiins is going to be a loser. I mean, I
guess if you're really digging for it. But uh yeah, I would agree.
I would say I don't want the Rock to just out of nowhere.
Help Cody Rhoads at WrestleMania win the bell like hit a Rock. The worst
possible situation is Cody Roads is in peril, the Rock takes out the bloodline,
gets in the ring, refs down hits a rock Bottom and then Cody
Roads covers Roman Reigns for the victory. I mean that that would be horrific
for Cody Rhodes's title victory. I mean, you talk about the fans.
I think that would anger the Cody fans more than if The Rock was in
a triple threat with them with Roman Reigns, because then it's saying like you
you need the Rock as a crutch to beat Roman Reigns, And that's awful,
it's possible, but that is the worst possible outcome for this match.
Well, and not just that that, it would further fuel the Cody cry
babies into thinking that the Rock is an attention seeking you know what, and
shoehorning is way right into the thick of things. Like I think, from
my mind, it would have to be something along the lines of The Night
After, But I even think that it should be the Bloodline turning on the
Rock, Like I think it should be like the Bloodline ousting the Rock and
throwing him off to the side to really expedite this this baby face turn for
him, just because in my mind, like you just said, there's just
so many variables that could go wrong, and so many things that could be
taken poorly if the Rock is the one to help Cody Rhodes, because then,
like you said, oh, Cody needed to crutch. And even more
so than that, people are gonna be like, what is the Rock gonna
hold up Cody's arm and like symbolically like crown him the champion. Like,
I don't think that that would be terrible, but given the nature of the
Cody cry babies for a lack of better term, I really think that that
would be a very big danger zone for WW to go down. So for
me, I think it one hundred percent is it's indicating that a babyface turn
is coming, which is kind of good, right because at the end of
the day, we know for guys like you and me who are proponents of
Rock versus Roman, it more or less like one hundred percent ensures that we're
going to get that down the line somewhere. But I just hope they don't
do it at wrestling in a fashion that means or that kind of shows that
codyd did that crutch. Yeah, especially with a title change this monumental,
you can have the person beat Roman in any kind of weird way, it
has to be clean, which is why the what I've proposed there, a
Johnsena or an Austin comes out. And again it's still insane to say,
but you could have Austin stunned the Rock in twenty twenty four, not a
program, just a single stunner. Now what Austin's motivations are for being in
the match, I don't know. I mean, I haven't gone that far,
but it's very possible. But leaving things on even keel, like the
Bloodlines now neutralized Austin and or John Cena neutralized things, and you have just
Cody and just Roman in the ring. So there's no possible argument of,
well, see Roman rains got hit with an AA, you got hit with
a stunner. No, no, no, no, it has to be
all Cody one hundred percent. Now that's a possibility. But I also think
it's possible that at WrestleMania, like you said, the Bloodline turn on the
Rock, and after Cody wins, maybe Roman reign starts shoving the Rock.
They all start beating down the bloodline. Blood Line starts beating down the Rock.
Now he's the sympathetic character. Cody fans are all happy now because Ali
Lujah wrote you know, the rain is over and Cody's your champion. He
has his moment, so he has maybe five ten minutes in the ring to
celebrate. And then after that is when you see the Rocket beat down and
brutalized by the Bloodline, and then maybe he you know, comes back in
the money net row after and challenges Roman to next year's WrestleMania no title,
So at that point all the fans should be reunited against Roman or against against
Roman and with the Rock because there's no title, which was the whole catalyst
for this problem. So I think that's that's a way you could do it
well even better, Like do we remember the Rock versus hal Kovien and restume
eighteen? I'm sure we all do. Won the most historic matches of all
time? How did that match ends? And haul Kochen was a heel at
least going in. He loses, and then he shakes the Rock's hand,
they embrace. nWo comes out, beats down Hogan. The Rock comes back
to the ring, beats down nWo side by side with Hogan, and then
they embrace each other. Did you not have something where Cody wins? Afterwards,
the Bloodline beats down the Rock and anger Cody comes back to the ring,
puts him even more over as a baby face by fighting off the bloodline
side by side with the Rock, and then you have the embrace kind of
like a full circle moment where they had the embrace when the Rock first came
out, then they feuded with the Rock turning heel, and then comes full
circle to close WrestleMania. That you have the Rock kind of in an indirect
way endorsing the bloodline but not at the risk of making Cody Rhoades look like
he needed help. But you also turn the Rock baby face. You have
him endorse Cody. It puts Cody even more over as a baby face by
like bringing back a babyface Rock. Like, Look, I hate the Cody
character, but if I'm booking this, that's the way I probably go about
it because it just it checks all the boxes and appeaces all the demographics,
and you get the fans back united against Roman with the Rock behind him because
there's no reason to hate the Rock at that point. Yeah, that all
you said. It fits all of the boxes, then fits all the narratives
that you wanted to. I think it's a pretty simple, not overly booked.
See that's what I also don't want on this main event. WWE has
had a habit over the years. Now of course without Vince, we'll see,
but this is Triple H's first full WrestleMania without a McMahon and his ear,
and so we'll see. But I could see the main event kind of
being overbooked with too many weird things happening, and oh, Solo's out,
Oh here comes Jimmy, Oh here comes Austin, here comes you know,
John Cena, and all of a sudden it becomes about everything but Roman and
Cody, and I hope they don't do that as far as like just overbooking
with too many different subplot lines. If you're gonna do it like you said,
I mean, the way you laid it out or I laid it out
is fairly simple. You have people clear the ring and it's back to Cody
Roman, and then they have a five or ten minute finish where Cody ends
up cleanly beating Roman with no question marks, and then you have the Turn
of the Rock and back to Babyface. Cody. Fans are related. Roman's
reign is over all elujah, I mean really, I mean all of us
will be happy at that point. Now, The question to you is,
as we have five ten minutes left here moving to WrestleMania forty one, do
you see it now where it has to be almost Cody or I'm sorry,
Rock versus Roman like this has to be set up for WrestleMania forty one,
right, No, it has to be like as much as people were upset
about how as The Rock put it, Cody has Fish's story, which is
hilarious, but at that point that box has checked and the Rock, like
I said earlier in this show, he was right. This was a match
we all wanted for years, and then we got in. We flushed down
the toilet. Now if we could still get this match, but along the
way, get a heel version of The Rock, get a better build,
put Cody over in a way that he deserves. Even though I can't stand
him, I could objectively admit that he deserves to go over because of the
unwavering crowd support that he's gotten for twenty four months. Then I'm all for
it. But yes, one hundred percent, there's not even a reason to
dive too deeply into this. You need to do Rock Versus Roman next year
at WrestleMania, and then you could do a full year long build with more
substance. Like I always said that you all you had to do was the
have the Rock come out and go face to face with Roman, and the
story was written. But if you could write an even deeper story like they're
in the process of doing, hey, I'm all for it. This may
be one of the best the best mistakes of WWE's creative in the last ten
I mean really, given the fans and and all the support they've made for
Cody and having Rock come out and now turn heel, but we're getting to
see something we didn't expect to see with the Rock to his heel. We
didn't know we wanted it until we see it again. So and then having
a proper build instead of just February to April, you could cram in a
program there and sure, we've seen a year long build before with John Cena
and the Rock from Wrestlmania twenty seven to twenty eight, right, there was
a twenty six I never remember, but we saw that before. It's doable
because you're not talking about it every week. You just kind of remind the
fans once a month or so, and there's a you know, there's a
video package or Rock, maybe in person or maybe they go face to face,
and then they take a month off, and like, you can do
it. It's not that they're talking about it and promoting it every single damn
week to exhaustion. Of course, promoting a match for fifty two weeks is
just at that point you're just like, I don't even care about this thing
anymore. So there's a way strategically to do it over a year, and
I have no problem with it. I think they could absolutely do it.
It's just again the inherent risks that we talked about last week. What if
he decides so crap I got this movie role? What if injury happens to
either man? Right? Like things that you just don't foresee that could happen.
But I think they're willing to take the risk. I'm willing to take
it because things seem to be lining up for this year for Cody and hopefully
Roman dropping the belt. But that leads me to I guess a question for
you for this year, though, do you see the Rock in a match?
He keeps talking about wrestling this year, but like, how do you
have him in a wrestlemanium match? I got who would he face? In
an actual match, though, if they do this, like for me,
I think it would just be a tag team match that we've seen reported Rock
versus Seth and Cody. I think that's the direction they're going now. The
only other thing that I've thought of is if you have them against Randy Orton,
because I don't know if Randy Orton has a dancing partner, and maybe
Randy Orton wrestles on behalf of Triple H because we know Triple H can't wrestle
because of the defibrillator and his heart issues. But aside from a Randy Orton
Rock match, which I mean they kind of planted seeds for ten years or
twenty years ago at this point in their one face to face encounter, I
guess they had several in their tag team match at Wrestaurant Tooyne, but they're
only one where they were one on one the only That's the only other thing
that I could think of, aside from them just doing the tag team match
that has already been widely reported. Yeah, that's very possible. I mean,
we keep seeing it. The only thing is you'll probably be pissing off
a lot of actual talent and fans who are being bombarded by a Roman Reigns
double knight feature main event where no one else gets the main event, not
the world title, not the women. So you're gonna be sacrificing a lot
of angry talent, but like we have done for the last three and a
half years at the Altar Roman Reigns, right, right, exactly, So
all right, well, I guess we'll wrap it up here. Do you
have any final thoughts or topics or questions before we head out? All I
would say is I'm very interested to see what direction they take the World Heavyweight
Championship, which has taken a back seat over the last several weeks, right,
I mean, even again, Seth Rollins has been a victim of his
own title being put on the burner, So I'd like that to come forth
to the forefront the elimination chamber. Obviously, this coming Saturday is going to
help answer a lot of questions. And I don't know about you, I'm
kind of hoping for a Drew McIntyre victory there. We'll see, just because
he's been so god dang brilliant. I would love to see it. So
all right, well we'll wrap it up, guys, Thank you, so
much for joining me. Man, we'll be talking in another seven and chatting
about the Elimination Chamber results. Looking forward to it, Man, take care
you too. Hey, guys, we don't get too serious usually on this
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