Wrestlemania season 2024

[patrickgpe]

Looking forward to the rumble this year, 

on the men’s side I think CM Punk most likely wins it. Cody Rhodes is my #2 choice, The Rock is my surprise entrant / winner.

on the woman’s side, its wide open. I’m thinking Becky Lynch, Nia Jax, or Bailey make the most sense 
 

[Outlander]

I imagine they will do the long 1 year head of the table build with Rock and Roman, don't see them doing it this quickly.

Probably would go with Punk as well to win the rumble even though it seems too obvious.

[patrickgpe]

2 hours ago, Outlander said:

I imagine they will do the long 1 year head of the table build with Rock and Roman, don't see them doing it this quickly.

Probably would go with Punk as well to win the rumble even though it seems too obvious.

the winner is always the obvious one as of late and the surprise entrants are no as surprising or as many in quantity as hey were back in the day. its still my favorite PPV, but its just not the same. They would rather use NXT people than HOF'ers in that role. 

[LouisEly]

Biggest news is moving RAW to Netflix in 2025, premium live events in 2026 (I believe Peacock has contractual rights to PLE's through 2025).  While Netflix may be in more homes than cable now, I don't think it's a good move to have one brand on subscription streaming and another brand on packaged TV (technically YouTube TV is streaming, not "cable", so I call bundled TV channel purchasing "packaged TV"). 

You're asking your fanbase to have both and spend incrementally on TV in order to watch both brands.  Not a good idea.  I think that WWE fans have more overlap with sports fans than cable-cutters, thus if push comes to shove they will keep their packaged TV plan so that they can watch their sports teams and Smackdown and forego RAW/Netflix.  Only about 1/3rd of households have both "cable" and streaming (all streaming, not just Netflix).

Their young fanbase (under 16) will likely force parents to get both, but I think they're going to see a dropoff in combined engagement with both brands in their 18+ fanbase.

[jerichoholicninja]

WWE is getting $5 billion (with a B) out of this. I doubt they care how many people actually watch the show.

[patrickgpe]

I know it already started so I’m a little late but calling my shot. Bailey and Gunther winning tonight 

[jerichoholicninja]

Looks like Vince has finally been put out to pasture with the latest allegations and he took Lesnar with him. Seems like a lot of those around Vince are also being implicated for either taking part or at least turning a blind eye. You've got to wonder what happens with Triple H. There's no way he could be totally in the dark to everything that was going on.

[LouisEly]

A very uninspiring men's rumble.  Not because Cody won, but there just wasn't an inspiring roster.  Kofi must finally be showing his age and not even attempt any back-into-the-ring gymnastics.  Would have been more interesting if McIntyre had a more believable build-up to actually be a credible threat.  And why have the universal heavyweight championship before Owens-Paul?

[Outlander]

It's pretty common to have a transitional/go to the bathroom type match before the main event. Don't usually have back to back main event type matches anymore.

[jerichoholicninja]

16 hours ago, LouisEly said:

A very uninspiring men's rumble.  Not because Cody won, but there just wasn't an inspiring roster.  Kofi must finally be showing his age and not even attempt any back-into-the-ring gymnastics.  Would have been more interesting if McIntyre had a more believable build-up to actually be a credible threat.  And why have the universal heavyweight championship before Owens-Paul?

I don't watch WWE at all but since I have Peacock I'll check out the Rumble just to see who shows up. The fact that Andrade and McAfee were the only surprise entrants was pretty disappointing.

[LouisEly]

They've done a pretty good buildup for WM. 

What I've been hoping would happen, that is actually set up really good for, is for all of the wrestlers who the Bloodline has screwed over to come out and just destroy the Bloodline through the announce booths, tables, all of their finishing moves onto chairs, etc., that allows Rhodes to win with the Bloodline taken out.  It is set up really well because of the stipulation for the tag team match on Saturday being "anything goes" if Reigns/The Rock win.

Unfortunately the one who would best make that happen - Brock Lesnar, and was set up for that after he shook Rhodes' hand at the end of their feud - is unlikely to be in a WWE ring anytime soon if ever again due to the alleged connection to McMahon and the sex trafficking/harassment allegations.  (But Lesnar is listed on the active roster on their website.)  Plus, McIntyre turning heel limits that pool, and so does Dustin Rhodes being signed to AEW.  I guess they still have Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, Randy Orton, Sammy Zayne, Kevin Owens.  Maybe they have a bunch of "legends" with ties to the Rhodes family also come out.  Bron Breakker is connected because of his father, and maybe he comes out with him, maybe with Scott too.  Rumor is that Jason Kelce has been signed to appear, so he's a possibility.  Rikishi is supposed to be there, and maybe he turns on the Bloodline and aligns with Jey Uso and his connection to wrestling with Cody/Dustin and is "ashamed" of what the Bloodline has done.

[patrickgpe]

I like that they clearly were planning on having rock vs roman and cody vs  seth and pivoted, and actually the 4 guys have put together a better program leading up to Wrestlemania. Looking forward to IO vs Bayley, Uso vs Uso, and Rhea vs Becky as well. Should be a good weekend. 

Honestly I think the match of the weekend will be Saturday afternoon with Carmelo Hayes vs Trick Williams at Stand and Deliver. 

[Outlander]

They didn't' pivot from anything, was always going to be Cody and Reigns. Rollins is a different story with the Punk injury, sure hope he loses though. Looking ng forward to the many n event tonight, figure there will be a ton of run ins, will be interesting who shows up.

[patrickgpe]

That was a perfect ending to wrestlemania. Like i always say, when it’s good wwe is very good, but when it’s not, it isn’t. Triple H hit it out of the park during his first wrestlania in charge. 

[jerichoholicninja]

I caught the main event of both nights. Saturday was a fun match. I don't even know what to call Sunday's. The first 10 minutes was nothing but kicking out of finishers followed by 10 minutes of run-ins and then another 10 minutes of guys wobbling around. It certainly "finished the story" but definitely was not a wrestling match fitting a wrestlmania main event with over 2 years of build.

[Vgmastr]

Milwaukee leaders were at Mania in Philly to meet with WWE officials to try and get a Royal Rumble at AmFam after the ballpark has been winterized.

https://www.cbs58.com/news/over-the-top-rope-milwaukee-seeks-to-bring-royal-rumble-to-american-family-field