As far as him being a great heel?

I have no idea who that ****tard in the bottle was, but Orton barking in his face is the salve my black heart needed.

Bottleman is just an attention seeking bellend that young kids seem to idolise because he's a loud brash dickhead.

Kid took the RKO super well, but the legitimate spartan kick that sent the lid flying was ****ing perfect LMAO

Shaping up to be one of the GOAT Manias as long as they don't go full reerun and **** the main event up. A few hiccups night one but other than that fantastic.

Alright main event time…..take me for a ride….I’m here for it….

Does Rock's mom come out and turn him back face? Do Austin and Cena come out to even the score?

Hope AEW lets Dustin run in. He's at the show.

Holy shit. What an incredible entrance.

The Shockmaster will try until tripping and falling.

Can't wait for the glass to break.

This ****ing match legit might go an hour LMAO

LMAO Welp, there's somebody under the ring.

Roman after hitting the Cody cutter: “Of course….that move sucks.” LMAO

Alright, now the shenanigans start

LMAO Welp, should be obvious who's coming to stop the Rock.

Wait, Wut?

I think we just saw almost every major WWE storyline from the past 20 years come to a conclusion in one match

That pop for the gong was everything that wrestling can be. The announcer getting emotional really helped put over how special it was.

Now he's getting the Bret WM X treatment.

Cody, I looooove, youuuu.

Wow. Looked like Michael Cole was legit sobbing

Eh. Needed more washed up wrestlers appearing. Talk about burying roman. This was too hulk hogan like for my tastes. I'd have loved it as a kid except I wouldn't have known who everyone was.

Really good Mania overall.

A couple duds, but that’s any wrestling show. Star power was off the charts.

I think they got most of the right winners.

Was Rollins legitimately hurt? Looked like he might be.

Yeah, that whole part seemed ****ed. Don't think I ever saw him walking without support either.

I told them to take me on a ride and damn if they didn’t….loved every second of that. So good.

Tomorrow should be mighty interesting….

I can’t believe they actually did it. It is a damn miracle. Finally

BTW Michael Cole was in god mode all weekend…so good…

Roman may be gone for a while. He was at the top of the ramp with Heyman and they seemed to be pretty emotional hugging.

Main event was WAY overbooked. Should have just been Cody and Reigns. Maybe have Bloodline lose night one to ensure that. Instead everyone but Prince Harry interfered.

When Austin/Rock were doing their thing, they didn't need former legends coming in to promote their matches. Shows you the lack of star power today.

Undertaker being there made no sense from a storyline standpoint.

The run ins made sense though, which is tough considering there were so many.

Jimmy Uso attacked and Jey responded. They’ve been feuding through the Bloodline story.

Solo attacked and Cena responded. Solo took Cena out previously.

Rock came out for Cena and gave us a Wrestlemania X8 reference with the stare down and their history at 28 and 29.

Rock has been calling himself the Final Boss, but Undertaker has always been the Wrestlemania Final Boss.

Then the Shield storyline came full circle with Roman hitting Rollins in the back with the chair.

If MJF is coming to WWE, then Raw after Mania makes more sense. Would’ve felt forced tonight.

MJF signed a new deal with AEW last summer...

I will say, HHH needs to tamp back on the ego a smidge. Like, we got it bro, you've saved the fans from McMahon and it's your show to run now. We didn't need that ran into the ground over the weekend. Just let the quality of the show do it for you

I mean going on McAfee to basically whine that Ospreay is a bitch you don't want because he took the more money less dates offer isn't exactly a great look.

Is that confirmed? Or just rumored?

Most of what I’d seen said he was done in early 2024.

I don’t follow AEW very close though admittedly.

I also had the same thought RE: Taker. I haven't watched any of the build up on the shows so I assumed Rock must have cut a promo saying "WrestleMania belongs to the Rock" or something of that ilk. If he didn't then it doesn't really make sense to have a fuming Undertaker suddenly appear and take him out, whilst leaving the rest of them.

Meh. First of all, that gong got one of the biggest crowd pops I think I've ever heard at literally anything, ever. Second of all, Austin was obviously their first choice and he couldn't do it for whatever reason. Third of all, it's not lake Taker hasn't shown up to absolutely wreck an authority figures shit when they're getting too out of line.

Also, you know, Roman being the one to initially retire Taker

I was wondering if Brock was the first choice. He has all sorts of history with Rock even back to winning his first title from him at Summerslam (01?).

Brock also raised Cody’s hand when their feud ended. Kinda like Cody had proven himself.

He did get more money from AEW. Not sure if it also was an extension and if so for how long

Also calls back to the Taker kept his fists tapped until Shawn did the right thing for business and dropped the belt to Austin at WM14.

Taker also made Vince go talk to Bret Hart (and get punched) after the Montreal Screwjob.

He’s always been the leader in the lockerroom.

I still think Brock was the original plan. All sorts of ties to Heyman, Roman, and Rock. Sure seems to make a ton of sense. Also, an obvious explanation as to why they went another way.

2nd night much better than the first....was a bit surprised that it was Taker to appear.

Was really good to see Damian Priest cash in on McIntyre so that can lead to more Drew whining which makes him an even better heel. Although not looking forward to a Punk-McIntyre match.

Expected the Bayley win...and I am guessing we haven't seen the last of the feed with Iyo Skye.

Not sure where they go next with Rollins...

Who is the first to challenge Rhodes after finally beating Reigns? Will it be the Rock or Reigns?

My guess, Cody's first opponent will be Jacob Fatu. Rock is going to destroy Reigns tonight for failing and send him off for a long time and bring in his own representative while he still heels it up.

That would be a pretty big jump for someone brand new to the company.

I am predicting that Roman and maybe Jimmy are going to catch a beat down and be kicked out of the bloodline by Rock with at least Jacob Fatu debuting. Cody will go through the bloodline members and face Rock at Summerslam.

Tama Tonga could be part of the bloodline or start teaming with AJ against the Good Brothers.

I agree, but Jacob Fatu may be a special case. And The Rock will ultimately be the real kingpin of the whole thing. He's what they want Solo to be.

I’m getting Wrestlemania 14 vibes from Roman.

Next night Triple H says Shawn Michaels dropped the ball and brings X Pac/New Age Outlaws into DX. Michaels retires for awhile, but comes back in a non wrestling role.

I think Roman is out for awhile. Rock buries him tonight. Builds to a match at Mania next year with Roman returning as a face against heel Rock.

I also wonder if we might be done with Cody vs the Bloodline for a bit.

Maybe we see Gunther vs Cody or something.

Nah. He still needs a month or two of dealing with Rock after Reigns gets booted from the Bloodline.

It's going to be a little weird not seeing Roman or Seth for a little while.

If Roman is out for a bit.

I gotta think Heyman jumps on the next “beast”. Maybe Bron Breaker?

Unless it’s Jacob Fatu, anyone else will feel underwhelming.

Rock vs Cody needs time to build and can’t be on a B Show, so maybe Summerslam in August?

I wouldn't have been shocked if it was Seth but he seems to be legitimately ****ed up now.

Oh, definitely not an actual match with the Rock. Like you said, that's a SummerSlam match. More dealing with his new version of the stable.

It will be nice knowing that the titles could change hands at most of the big shows again.

It’s good to have a few lengthy title reigns to give the belt legitimacy, but the entire last year was pretty pointless. After 39, everyone knew Roman wasn’t dropping the belt anywhere but Mania.

Of course, throw it all out the window if WWE actually did manage to steal away MJF. You throw him into a feud with Cody and don't look back.

They are really teasing a new belt tonight.

We going to get the Bloodline split like the NWO did with the Wolfpac?

Bring the Winged Eagle back...

Kind of hope Cody goes back to the winged white belt.

Yup.

Then you have the Rock say he isn’t done with Cody, but has Bloodline business to take care of first or whatever. Just to make it make sense.

Cody vs MJF at Summerslam.

Maybe then Priest vs Gunther too.

It would be hilarious if they brought back the Spinner Belt as a joke, then threw it away for the Winged Eagle

They aren't even being subtle. It's going to be a variation of the Winged Eagle.

Don't know if you guys watched the post event press conference, but Nick Khan apparently tracked down the Rolex Dusty pawned off to send Cody to acting school and presented it to him after he got backstage.

I watched part of it, but didn’t hear that.

That’s awesome.

The entire WWE seems legitimately happy for Cody.

I'd better see it on the A&E show where Mick Foley barters for it.

Outside of maybe tonight, you're not gonna see the Rock again for a long time.

There was a lot of narrative cohesion in that match that I didn't pick up on having only watched intermittently since 2010 or so.

Seth, who turned on the Shield and cost Roman at 31 comes out in Shield gear, and when Roman has the chance to finish Cody with the chair, he turns and hits him in the same spot Seth hit him. Seth falls the same way Roman did when betrayed, and that delay allows Cody to recover enough to counter and finish him.

Thus, Seth's initial betrayal creates a need for Roman to surround himself with blood, act as a dictator, but when faced with the biggest threat to his reign, he chooses vengeance, which costs him the title.

That's as sophisticated an arc as I've seen them do by a fair margin.

Seth even cut a promo earlier in the feud where he told Cody he'd be his "shield"....so good.

Plus, Cody tried multiple times to hit Roman with the Triple Cross Rhodes.

Even at Mania 39. Then Roman said you can’t beat anyone with that move when he used it on Cody.

Cody finally got Roman with it and won. So, Cody didn’t beat Roman with something he’d kicked out of before.

Little details like that really help.

The only question I have is what do you do with Gunther? Trade Orton over to RAW so Gunther can get the rub of winning a feud against Orton?

I’d kind of like to see Randy go after Cody but that’s just me.

A LOT of people would pay to see Gunther chop the shit out of Logan Paul and take his belt.

Doesn’t do much for Gunther, since he’s probably ready to chase a higher title. US title is probably a baby step down from the inter continental title.

Gunther vs Priest could be fun.

Bron Breakker probably isn't going to go after any major title until Wrestlemania 41. Honestly, he probably should've been the one to dethrone Gunther.

I wasn’t a fan of Gunther losing his title at the same event (albeit a different night) as Roman.

Gunther’s reign ending is really an afterthought right now.

Summerslam would’ve been better.

Always seems to pan out that way at least. Have an emotional climax at each Wrestlemania with a 0 (Benoit and Guerrero, Daniel Bryan, and now Cody Rhodes), and then each Wrestlemania with a 1 they strap the rocket to the next generation of main eventers (Cena and Batista, Reigns and Rollins)

For me he's the guy to take the title eventually of Cody...right now though? I don't really know.

Nah. Nothing against Gunther, but he tops out as a secondary world title kind of guy. Maybe a program with Cody but that's it. As fun as he is to watch as a wrestler there's just not much I can see them doing to make him the lead horse.

Really good interview here. Actually acknowledges AEW a lot more than I thought he would, and a certain someone as well.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S84657sA1Oc?si=vTb8hjQZG4Mh8tJo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>