Monday Night Raw (11/11)

[Griffith]

What pivot my good man. The one where they gave Rock 30 million dollars and a spot on the board BEFORE the royal rumble and then booked the Rumble for Cody to win?

What do you think happened here? They gave Rock the board spot on condition that he main event Mania. Then booked Cody to be the first back to back winner since Stone Cold in a continuation of a story they've been telling non stop for a year straight. All the while knowing they were gonna put Seth with Punk and Rock with Roman and Cody with ??? And this makes sense to you.

Why not just book Punk to win then? Why not just have Rock *gasp* actually earn the mania main event by winning the Rumble? Avoid the whole backlash completely. No, they took the literal path that led to fan revolt which in turn made Cody a even bigger babyface and produced their single most watched event EVER... by accident.

And this makes sense to you...?

The corporate politics aren't apparent to you? TKO literally cut a bunch of people in the middle of storylines last year and fucked up creative immediately after the merger but for some reason you think they're above doing that again?

Again, they do not give a single fuck about the storyline if they save money and make more in the process. It just so happens that HHH won that power struggle by making it public by booking Cody to win the rumble again regardless and salvaged the whole thing so it ended up working out.

 

[Iceberg_Taylor]

Welp so much for Jade being in the Chamber

 

[Chi-Town B]

Welp so much for Jade being in the Chamber

Why would you want her in, to lose again?

 

[Griffith]

Additionally the Rock and Hunter (along with Shawn and the rest of the Kilq) have historically had issues. Issues that were even referenced in Young Rock. Rock is now Hunter's boss. Please put 2 and 2 together lmao.

 

[TonyDubbz]

they better do the right thing and give this one to Nak.....

 

[Loneshot]

What does an "AEW style champion" even mean? He's the inaugural champion of a belt that was born out of very unfortunate circumstances. He had to give it some sort of legitimacy.

That's a champion of a bunch of exhibition matches. Nothing major happens in their title reigns to truly remember.

 

[Iceberg_Taylor]

Why would you want her in, to lose again?

Losing in the chamber is not the same as losing in a singles match
By your logic Jade should have just won the Rumble

 

[PhenomTheMac]

Are you going to realise that Cody was booked as the rumble winner in spite of what TKO promised Rock or is it still "a work"?

So they gave Rock 30 million dollars and a spot on the board. They then sent him out there to screw the fans over, for reasons I guess. And he's suddenly playing this clearly defined heel character that pretty much sets up a million stories.

But it's all happenstance. 30 million dollars happenstance. Even though they immediately leaned into the backlash and had Cody tweet assurances to folks to chill the fuck out. Like when do you look at the pieces and see how they fit.

so reverse engineering this. What was the plan for Cody then? Yknow the face of the company. What was the story for Roman vs Rock? What was the result going to be? They were going to have Roman go over again? At WM40? When would he drop the title? They just gonna play this shit by ear? They've crafted this storyline for 4 years and just said eh, fuck the ending let's just wing it?

On one hand in the present all of these major questions are accounted for. On the other, none of them make any sense at all. The present way led them to 200 million views and Cody more over than ever. The other path would have left Cody in the lurch and no actual conflict to drive social engagement. But yeah, pivot sure. Whatever makes the fans feel like apart of the show.

 

[Chi-Town B]

Elimination Chamber going to start at 3 or 4 am, who the hell going to be up?

 

[Chi-Town B]

Losing in the chamber is not the same as losing in a singles match
By your logic Jade should have just won the Rumble

She lost the rumble and to follow up she would lose the EC, wouldn't be a good look for her.

 

[PhenomTheMac]

Nigga you keep saying "They promised the Rock a main event and THEY booked Cody to win the Rumble"



TKO brought the Rock in
Hunter booked Cody

These are two separate entities
CLEARLY TKO and Hunter were not on the same page

What are you not getting here?

Who does Hunter report to? Hunter and Rock were together on the day Rock was announced as apart of the board. What do you think they talked about? The weather? The head of creative didn't talk creative with the biggest star wrestling has ever produced? You know they've been friends for nearly 30 years right?

 

[Griffith]

That's a champion of a bunch of exhibition matches. Nothing major happens in their title reigns to truly remember.

So a workhorse reign. The only champion this ever applies to is Orange Cassidy and probably Jade's reign (by virtue of it being stat padded).

 

[IP360]

This match slappin

 

[Griffith]

So they gave Rock 30 million dollars and a spot on the board. They then sent him out there to screw the fans over, for reasons I guess. And he's suddenly playing this clearly defined heel character that pretty much sets up a million stories.

But it's all happenstance. 30 million dollars happenstance. Even though they immediately leaned into the backlash and had Cody tweet assurances to folks to chill the fuck out. Like when do you look at the pieces and see how they fit.

so reverse engineering this. What was the plan for Cody then? Yknow the face of the company. What was the story for Roman vs Rock? What was the result going to be? They were going to have Roman go over again? At WM40? When would he drop the title? They just gonna play this shit by ear? They've crafted this storyline for 4 years and just said eh, fuck the ending let's just wing it?

On one hand in the present all of these major questions are accounted for. On the other, none of them make any sense at all. The present way led them to 200 million views and Cody more over than ever. The other path would have left Cody in the lurch and no actual conflict to drive social engagement. But yeah, pivot sure. Whatever makes the fans feel like apart of the show.

They sent him out there to try and get the main event that fans wanted before Cody was in the picture. A main event that doesn't need the title. Unfortunately, the fans are more invested in Cody finishing his story and winning the title since that's what we've seen for 2 years.

Cody did damage control because he warned the company beforehand that the reaction was going to be bad. Which it was.

The plan after Rock showed up was going to be Cody vs Seth. Roman was going to go over and eventually break Hogan's record.

TKO were entirely willing to blow up a year's worth of build up for the sake of box office, bigger sponsorship deals and appealing to casuals during their most watched event. Hope that helps.

 

[PhenomTheMac]

The corporate politics aren't apparent to you? TKO literally cut a bunch of people in the middle of storylines last year and fucked up creative immediately after the merger but for some reason you think they're above doing that again?

Again, they do not give a single fuck about the storyline if they save money and make more in the process. It just so happens that HHH won that power struggle by making it public by booking Cody to win the rumble again regardless and salvaged the whole thing so it ended up working out.

We talking about the main event of Wrestlemania as if it's some random Smackdown in July. You have to believe that Rock would agree to this and no one would clue in Triple H. That he'd just book Cody to win with no plan on how to maneuver Rock into that spot. And this is sensible to you for reasons that escape me.

So all the marketing that goes into such an event. All the negotiations. All the logistics. All the planning. And all the story beats. They were just gonna make em up on the fly?! When do to presume Hunter would've been clued in. When would he actually start booking in accordance with his bosses wishes? Was he just going rouge? This is big business, the left hand knows what the rights doing here. Too many people who have to make the production come together for it to be anything less than a coordinated effort.

 

[Iceberg_Taylor]

Sami losing to Nak is NASTY work

 

[Iceberg_Taylor]

The Codyvengers are taking shape to take on The Bloodline this summer

Cody
Seth
Sami

Who next

 

[already home_17]

The Codyvengers are taking shape to take on The Bloodline this summer

Cody
Seth
Sami

Who next

@VIBE

 

[Iceberg_Taylor]

We talking about the main event of Wrestlemania as if it's some random Smackdown in July. You have to believe that Rock would agree to this and no one would clue in Triple H. That he'd just book Cody to win with no plan on how to maneuver Rock into that spot. And this is sensible to you for reasons that escape me.

So all the marketing that goes into such an event. All the negotiations. All the logistics. All the planning. And all the story beats. They were just gonna make em up on the fly?! When do to presume Hunter would've been clued in. When would he actually start booking in accordance with his bosses wishes? Was he just going rouge? This is big business, the left hand knows what the rights doing here. Too many people who have to make the production come together for it to be anything less than a coordinated effort.

fam why didnt they just book Rock to win the Rumble

 

[Griffith]

We talking about the main event of Wrestlemania as if it's some random Smackdown in July. You have to believe that Rock would agree to this and no one would clue in Triple H. That he'd just book Cody to win with no plan on how to maneuver Rock into that spot. And this is sensible to you for reasons that escape me.

So all the marketing that goes into such an event. All the negotiations. All the logistics. All the planning. And all the story beats. They were just gonna make em up on the fly?! When do to presume Hunter would've been clued in. When would he actually start booking in accordance with his bosses wishes? Was he just going rouge? This is big business, the left hand knows what the rights doing here. Too many people who have to make the production come together for it to be anything less than a coordinated effort.

They blew up creative plans before or did you ignore me saying that? The tickets for Mania were already sold. The Rock was going to secure more viewers and more sponsorships. Having Cody go through all of this just for the Rock to waltz in before the Rumble and reference "the head of the table" knowing what the plans were is dumb no matter how it's sliced. They were running heat checks repeatedly since last year.

Corporate took a shot and missed but creative recovered it in time and still kept Rock in the picture whilst cooking Seth's main event plans even further.

Again, I promise it's not the big brain play you think it is.