Wrestling News & Rumours Thread ***NO CHAT***

Reigns will not lose the title at Rumble. It's not even in the next realm of possibility.

we're all thinking like marks.

i said previously that Rock v Roman should be in Oz at Elimination Chamber if it's going to happen, but you know what, that's me thinking like a fan, and as someone who is sort of invested in Cody's story. But that's not the bottom line, I'm afraid.

Rock v Roman is the biggest match they can do. By a mile. Whether it'd be crap or not is another thing, but it's absolutely massive. It has huge mainstream appeal. From a hype perspective, and making the company look like a giant deal, they can't do anything bigger - and that will mean doing it at Wrestlemania. In the grand scheme of things, Cody's story is of secondary importance. If Rock wants to do the match, and he only wants or can to do it at Wrestlemania, then you're not saying no I'm afraid. Cody's story can wait.

Also, have any of us considered that it is not Cody's story? Maybe 'Cody's Story' is red herring - that in fact the entirety of Cody's story, Punk's return (the return of the OG Paul Heyman guy), Jey leaving the Bloodline, that it all, actually, feeds into ROMAN'S story. That WWE is actually telling the story of -Tribal Chief, Head of The Table, conqueror of all of WWE, the one who has put bums back in seats for everybody, the one who has done everything he set out to do - conquering WWE in every single aspect, records and all? Maybe they all feed into HIS story?

It's not beyond the realms of possibility.

But either way, they are clearly pivoting towards Rollins v Gunther and Cody v Punk, so it at least looks like Roman is free for the Rock match. now, of course the Cody/Punk segment could be a longer play towards Cody (c) v Punk at Summerslam, but I'm not convinced.

Likewise I wanted him to do well but found him cringeworthy.

I assume Brock is back soon, maybe even at the RR, might delay it now perhaps as the story is everywhere

I reckon, beyond "I'm in the Royal Rumble, please watch", the Gunther thing was seeding his being the face of Bash in Berlin. As much as I appreciate the current clarity of purpose with storylines these days™ (post-Vince's whims, presumably), there's an irritating habit at the moment of saying what the upcoming matches will be then trying to blur them closer to the time. Like, Punk/Rollins and Rock/Reigns is on the way and has been for months then they™'re trying to say all these others could win the Rumble? Do it the other way around!

With Reigns, I do wonder if this is his retirement run. Where do you go after dropping that title? Losing rematches? Going back to a shorter run? Personally, I'm content for the streak to keep going but I don't blame anyone for being sick of it by now.

An idea with Rock/Reigns or the Rollins/Rhodes match I don't think is happening would be to either have Rock win and the Anoa'is destroy each other the next Raw then Priest cashes in on the wreckage, or have Rhodes 'finish the story' then Priest cashes in on him. I'm lukewarm on Priest being champion but you can treat it as a soft reboot/beginning of new era (*eyes Netflix*) and takes the weight off the current emphasis on all this record breaking, complete-my-career booking.

Also, I miss being able to paste quotes into other threads.

I'm guessing Rhea vs. Nia is headlining

In the process of getting his US residency so had to surrender his passport to the embassy, can't leave the states till it's cleared.

intresting development

Who gets the Gunther match at Mania now? If Okada signed wouldn't he be the natural replacement?

Or do they go full circle on Gable and give him his moment that was teased few months ago ?

Well Tony has a big announcement next week

Guessing it's confirming 'Okadas AEW signing'

Since it would be fresh, I’d say it’ll be Andrade. They’ll just need to do a nice job building him up for a couple of weeks and move to the Gunther build then.

Jey Uso would go down well with the fans in this slot. Would he take the belt? probably not.

they gave a little sample of that at the beginning of the Rumble which might have planted the seed.

They are also carrying the storyline of Jey vs Imperium too...

Sheamus or Chad Gable hopefully

Ant update on Big E return giving the feud with New Day now

Have to admit - The sample/taste of it didn't go down well. Eliminations had nothing to do with each other and interactions were non-existent once a few entrants entered the Rumble. If anything I'd say it fell flat. In saying that, they probably have their hearts set on that WM match ,so it'll still likely happen.

Marty Jannetty recently revealed that his leg issues have gotten worse and added that one of his sisters has passed away. The WWE alumnus posted to Facebook and said that he’s going through a difficult time, stating that doctors told him yesterday that they want to amputate his leg and that his brother called him last night to say their sister passed.

Apparently he's not getting it , he took Brock's spots in the rumble but not getting the Gunther program