Rick is just Shane O Mac on more roids.
Heel Rick is here guys. Zom has nailed it I think.
That stuff was genuinely pretty good. While the Rock was heaving for air after just cutting a promo he spoke better than he has on WWE TV in donkeys, though there still wasn't much of the old charisma there.
Interesting that Rollins was there and didn't quietly shuffle off stage once it became about Cody. Rick and Roman so Tom's suggestion that there may be a tag match of those four at some point seems pretty plausible.
Rhodes is definitely losing due to interference again.
Interference from…
Toggle Spoiler
I'm a twit
He'll be disappointed when he realises there's no Matzah ball soup on the table.
Punk can't stay fit but he is possibly even more valuable as a commentator/personality. He was amazing on the mic last night.
I think they've salvaged that about as best a way as they can.
It makes the stuff we saw recently not make a lot of sense, but we can gloss over that. Rollins jumping in to defend Cody is also an interesting one.
Rick is going to squash Rollins for the Workhorse World Championship on Night 2 in the semi-main.
Only thing I didn't like was Roman looking like a bit of a spare part, although maybe now he'll empathise with Jimmy Uso more.
Rick about to take the spotlight away from Moana too.
Alright now we're talking, hopefully the big crab is in it again.
Weird as it is, I’d love an ‘origin story’ of her gran.
I'm a twit
“Have him talk shit about our family again, I’ll slap the fucking teeth out of his mouth”
This is The Ricky I can get behind. Dare I say it, he overshadowed Roman with his performance last night. Cody and Rick stole the show and Roman dropped a couple of good lines. Seth was also there.
The interesting thing is how much Rock just takes over from Roman during the whole thing. That's to then play into their feud whenever that happens, or their part of the build if it ends up being a 3 way (just for Ben) or whatever.
Tremendous form there.
Better selling than AEW too.
https://youtu.be/sAWHcFwFM4I?si=plSsPrNI6UYMQzUA
This is a great video as well because it’s completely unfiltered. I love the idea that the Rick is so indestructible at this point that he’s casually dropping F bombs left, right and centre.
“Let him go, I’ll slap the piss out him again”.
I’m fully onboard with this story. God bless Haitch and Rick for recognising it needed to be changed up.
Hopefully they now explain Cody fighting a year for another shot before just standing aside and then changing his mind again rather than leaving that as a plot hole that makes him look a sap. Say he was blinded by Rick's corporate Hollywood bullshit or something before he was snapped out of it by the big Powerpoint presentation.
This ends with Rick becoming a new on-screen authority figure. He comes out to a reworking of Vince's theme featuring Wycleff Jean.
I never thought I'd agree with phonics on anything wrestling but it appears that Steve Blackman is the glue that binds us.
Whoa whoa hang on. Dog Blackman needs to finish his story.
That's just ADVERSITY.
I remember Blackman and Shamrock teaming on Raw one time to take on Rick during the period he was undermining Faarooq’s leadership. The match was probably shit but I remember that.
No Reigns scheduled for tonight. What a melt
I’m surprised Jade Cargill is going to Smackdown. The woman’s division is absolutely stacked there with Damage CTRL, Bianca, Stratton and Charlotte when she returns.
I think it makes sense. If you want to make her a big deal, you put her where the talent is. Should also help her through the green spell.
@Ben your analysis of why triple threat matches are shit is hard to argue with. I still disagree though.
If they end up substituting Ricky into the main event in Cody's place, it makes a mockery of two years of build, shits on the royal rumble, and basically sacrifices anything good and sensible for some kind of short term bollocks.
However, given the choice between Cody just winning clean in a singles match against Roman and a triple threat with Cody, Ricky and Roman ...I dunno, call me a lunatic, but I think the latter is actually a better move. I know we roll our eyes at WWE obsessing over star power and pushing part time veterans over current stars, but I think this is sort of the best of both worlds.
Throwing Rick into the mix definitely gets more eyeballs on the thing, and if Cody wins Vs Rick and reigns I honestly think it makes him a bigger star than if it's a singles against reigns. Purely anecdotal, but me and a couple of my irl mates are lapsed, cynical wrestling fans, and the way they've done it has gotten us all invested. The long abandoned "Titus world slide" FB group chat has had some posts, which absolutely wouldn't have happened if we had the clearly correct Cody winning clean against Roman alternate reality.
If they do anything else like rock Vs reigns or Cody not winning they're stupid twats though, for sure.
I can’t argue with that logic.
The one thing that cannot be argued here is that Rick turning up is bad for business. It was bad for Codys story, but I'm sure business be boomin' right now.
There's a fair few options for what they can do with this version of the story. There needs to be some tidy up from previous weeks in terms of stepping aside and hugging the Rick, then saying not at Mania, only to u-turn a week later.
You could have Cody v Rick night 1 and then Cody v Roman. Only issue here is you basically make Mania all about the bloodline. You could also make it a 3 way, with Roman and Rick beating Cody down until they clash over who should get the pin as both believe they're head of the table. Even though Roman has essentially taken on the Solo Sikoa role since Rick turned up.
They also seem to want Rollins involved in this from what we've seen so far as well. Perhaps he ends up making the big save during the interference?
I'll give them credit for one thing: They haven't booked Rick vs Haitch yet.
Well Smackdown confirmed EC is to set up Rollins contender but it does make sense that if this is basically going to be the end, or the beginning of the final act, of Reigns'/Bloodline's story it does make sense for Rollins to be involved in that in some way. I really dunno why when Reigns was running him down they didn't have Rollins point out that Reigns never beat him when they had their match during this run. If they end up having Cody work both nights somehow it wouldn't surprise me if they have Rollins do so too and make that part of the narrative that he's over-extending himself and that contributes to him losing the belt.
Anyway, I thought that while Smackdown was lacking in follow up (beyond a surprisingly fun HHH promo in which he used a couple of Rick's catchphrases) to that stuff it was a pretty fun show. The Chamber qualifiers were all decent-to-good (Sami really had his working boots on for his match with Orton, pulling out all his athletic spots), I liked #DIY vs. Bate/Dunne and they really got a dead crowd into it by the end.
He's probably take an in-ring death over being dragged into Vince's court case. Johnny Ace is going to start naming names. You just know it.
Or they could do a cinematic match. At a Smackdown hotel.
Just erase the McMahon era altogether by stealing all its shit.
Rick vs. Haitch vs. Reigns vs. .... I dunno, Omos (for Big Show vibes) with AN ANOA'I IN EVERY CORNER for WrestleMania 2025.
And then Rockishi turns heel and joins Rick for a run at the tag titles.
While Corey Graves reminds us that Rikishi really just wants to have fun.
The tag match last night was a proper throwback to NXT black and gold
Decent little TV match. I enjoyed it when Ciampa was in (Gargano just fucking sucks). Hopefully Dunne and Bate get a decent showing at EC.
I'd pay big money to see Steve Blackman wreck him.
I like Gargano fine as part of DIY but that's where he should stay.