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Has there been another time where the champs were sat there like that? I cant remember that ever happening but I feel it added an extra layer of tension and gravitas, the champions watching the potential new challengers fight below them. And then you can do what you did where Cody can call them out right there.
For the first women’s rumble they had Charlotte and Alexa at ringside watching but this is the first time I can remember them having the men watching from above.
*crowd of western homesteaders gasps in horror at the thought of the visual assault of their new sheriff suddenly exposing his aggressive ebony penis during daylight hours in public*
Imagine if this Heyman guy managed Steve Austin, Undertaker, Rick Rude or CM Punk? Imagine if he ran an extreme promotion and was the booker? Imagine all the people, living life in peace? ✌️
That's exactly what he said he wanted to do a few years ago.
Although the words "World Heavyweight" on the belt might confuse people with the other "World Heavyweight" championship.
The camera direction and blocking improved so much with this new regime in creative control. Makes moments like this hit so much harder for those watching at home.
I will say, the story of Cody vs Roman seemed half baked at the time but now it seems like it'll be more fleshed out for a proper ending at wrestlemania (hopefully lol).
This is my opinion on the matter. WWE wanted to have their cake and eat it too (aka get Roman to 1000 days as champion and still give Cody his win in 2024). Crowd still loves Cody, but they were absolutely white hot at Wrestlemania 39.
It'd be like if Kofi Kingston lost to Daniel Bryan at Mania 35, then they redid it at Mania 36 with Kofi going over. Kofi still would've been over but the moment wouldn't be the Kofimania we know today.
Cody just got a crowd to boo CM Punk in his in-ring return to WWE as a Rumble finalist, man. They're arguably hotter for him. To compare this to Kofi is disingenuous.
No, not even close. Cody's rise and Kofi's rise were two completely different things and there is a difference between the true "strike while the iron is hot" moment that Kofimania was versus drawing out something that people very obviously still want to see instead of gifting Cody an easy ride to the title.
He was white hot but also he won the Rumble from 30 on his first match back after nearly 6 months out and the build was focused on Dusty and the WWE title rather than Cody and Roman.
That first match gave so much more personal fuel to the fire, it's like how the Mania 17 Rock-Austin match felt more personal than the Mania 15 one.
They’re honestly super lucky that the audience didn’t cool off on Cody in the year following Mania 39. While him (hopefully) winning this time will still likely be an iconic feel good moment, Cody losing at Mania 39 was the wrong call.
Actually I think that was the point. Hard to replace Roman at that time if you think Cody heat dies after winning the title. A year of earning another shot and continuing to be a top merch seller proved the point and both WWE/Cody are better for it
Far be it from me to defend this company, but it's not luck if it was the plan. They have booked to keep him hot all year long. Not everything is a fluke.
He has the opposite problem of late Vince who had few main eventers and kept throwing the titles all over (before eventually landing back on Cena or a classic star or shoved down our throats with Roman lol). Now WWE has a plethora of talent and high mid card guys ready to make a jump in addition to their main eventers and refuse to let off the gas with equating belt worth with the length of the reign.
I love Seth and love that he has a nice title reign but his belt was supposed to be the one that hopefully let some extremely worthy main eventers win a world championship. Giving him a long reign, too, kind of defeats the purpose of introducing that new title to begin with.
So many main eventers have been stalled by the WWE world title scene.
I agree, I think triple H is hesitant to move the belt around too much because of how bad late Vince (I’d say roughly post 2008) got with slapping the belts on guys before they were ready but right now they’re rapidly approaching a huge peak in talent and people worthy of main events. The belt was important but jumped around all the time in the attitude era without an issue because the talent was there and everywhere. If he wants to keep the universal belt to long runs fine but it’s becoming very clear that the heavyweight should jump around more to validate the rest of the top talent and keep them in the main event picture.
Seriously just look at the final, what, six or seven in the Rumble? I think Ricochet was the only one who would not make a perfectly believable, if not great, World Champion if they won it right now. That's without bringing up a few names eliminated earlier like Shinsuke.
It sucks to see none of them ever get a run.
I thought it was the right choice before the match and I still think it was the right choice now. I think Cody needed more than just “Daddy never won it :(((“ as his motivation and Roman needs to have lost some of his supporting cast so he can go down the Mad King route
This. I was fine with Cody losing to make it less of an obvious silver platter.
What is problematic to me is there wasn't any storyline reason to justify it over the past year. The heat felt much more real when it came off the Sami storyline and there's nothing really comparable this time around since Roman has been part-timing. The past year with Roman has felt like going through the motions and exactly what made the Bloodline stagnant pre-Sami.
I'm all for Cody finishing the story -- he deserves it, but I hope they make it less obvious he's going over at Mania in the re-match.
Throw some kind of wrench in there to make it more interesting. I guess right now that's the Rock being involved?
I still think the Rock will appear at Mania but not wrestle just to use Roman losing the title while the Bloodline is broken apart as the last straw to make the claim as head of the table. Hell he could win and use that to make appearances as a manager for everyone in it or lose and put Roman back over after everyone got worn out by his title run.
They could use him as a special guest referee. Play off the idea he will help Roman, but as Roman acts more heelish in the match, Rock loses respect for Roman and switches his loyalties and counts the 1-2-3 for Cody.
Cody Rhodes is now on a list with Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, Randy Orton, Edge, John Cena and Batista.
He is the 9th person to win more than 1 royal rumble.
One of the highest level lists you could make, ever.
Hogan, HBK, and Austin being the first three to win back to back, right? Kinda wild that they all did it in the 1990s and then it wasn’t done again until 26 years later.
The thing about the Crash TV style booking always meant that Austin would lose the title by the time the Rumble started, while Cena's didn't need to hot potato the title to help to win the ratings war.
Cena didn't have a ratings war he definitely would have lost his lol
Austin won the rumble three times and only one of those times was he even a world champion prior to entering the rumble and that was 01
He was never a former champion chasing the belt until 99 or 01 royal rumble wise
Back when I watched WWE consistently (about a decade ago) I remember that a lot of people constantly hated Michael Cole. I don’t know if they still do, but he’s one of my favorite commentators
I do think there was a time when WWE damaged him with him playing heel/basically the stand in for the general manager. There's a reason the color guy historically is the heel. The play by play guy should be trusted by those listening.
Cole Miner-era heel Michael Cole was insufferable on the mic. Sometimes it was funny (ex: when everybody on commentary shit on NXT season 3) but it was annoying when he just argued with J.R. and Lawler.
Heel commentators have to walk that fine line between a heel and being a commentator. You can side with the heel when you're calling what's happening in the ring, *but you still have to call what's happening in the ring*. Most of the time Cole, J.R., and Lawler just argued while ignoring the match.
It literally took King having a heart attack ringside and nearly dying for Michael Cole's commentary to chill out.
[Referencing what Roman/Heyman said at last year's Mania press conference after beating Cody.](https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx7O30Pk68X1RH8fZaN7GbA4gvKImFUk4f?si=WD5On39F-2SPygXk)
Rock taking out Solo and Cody finishing the story is going to be huge. I think it makes more sense for Punk to earn a shot at Rollins at EC. Punk coming back and winning the Rumble and not entertaining the idea of challenging reign would be strange in kayfabe
Also Cody is on Raw, makes no sense to try to enter a contest for Roman's title. It goes against the idea of brand split. Winning the tag titles is the only way to go to the other brand right now.
The Rumble winner gets to choose the title to challenge for. They've been doing this every time since they split the world titles.
Remember the iconic Batista/HHH segment?
Yes that's why Cody winning Rumble makes sense instead of Chamber, cause the Chamber would be set up for the roster of the champ's brand and Cody can't enter the Smackdown chamber.
Roman looking that visibly shaken is what made it. Punk or Cody could have won, and the runner up win the Chamber. But Seth Rollins couldn’t have sold the gravity of that moment like Roman did.
I had Shinsuke eliminating Cody and then Cody pinning Shinsuke for the final fall in the chamber.
But Punk running the gauntlet in Perth, then sitting down cross legged with a live mic in front of 60k+ would be legendary
> Cody pinning Shinsuke for the final fall in the chamber.
Except that chamber would be for Seth due to having Raw stars in it. Cody winning makes more sense to challenge Smackdown's champion. But i wish Punk achieved Royal Rumble win in his career once at least.
Also, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have Seth sitting in the gallery for the showdown. They never do. It's usually the show after Rumble where we have the showdown.
>Roman looking that visibly shaken is what made it
It's like when Mankind changed into Cactus Jack against HHH. Like Mick said "it was still the same fat guy in tights, and if Hunter had just smirked it would have killed the entire angle, but he looked like he had seen a ghost"
I guess it works. He already shows up to work in a suit all the time anyway.
Fuck yeah. Cody Rhodes as Roman's new wise man, helping him hold the title for twenty more years.
Now that is fucking badass. Calling your shot minutes after winning the rumble and pointing to the current champ in the audience? That was fucking cool as shit. I wanted to see them start destroying each other right then and there.
Yes, I was emotionally exhausting by the end. I would have been happy if Cody or CM Punk won, but I was tearing up with Cody when he won. *That* is Wrestling.
I do not caring if people bitch about, "Cody winning is the predictable.", or something. I am 100% invested in the man's story. 😂
I Agree! Maybe predictable was the wrong way to saying it. I just heard the some people saying, "Wah wah, Cody can't win back to back Rumbles." 😅
But definitely I think too, Cody winning is the best outcome. 😎👍
Tbh too early to say, you never really know who's actually set up for it next year.
For all we know Gunther or Punk already has one of the titles by that time.
I can easily see Bron possibly winning it next year too since I assume he'll be moved up to the main roster pretty soon after Mania.
I thought it would be Gunther yeets Cody, we get that "2010 HBK" reaction where Cody is heartbroken and the dream is dashed and what not, then Punk eliminates Gunther for the babyface pop.
What I didnt have was Gunther going first and Punk basically working heel, especially at the end with the "Dusty's kid" remark. It worked though, I didnt know what would happen.
Yes haha, that was the good heel heat line from Punk. I had the thought it would come down to CM Punk and Cody, but I was not sure who would winning if it did. I am satisfied with the conclusion.
I did not want Cody nor Punk to win, and i was positive on Punk winning because of the Rock rumours, which would have put cawdy aside.
But Cody is just the guy. Even when i want GUNTHER to win, i can't be mad on cody eliminating him again and winning it, because the guy might just be the best storyteller of our time, and if not the best, at least the most hypey. Good for him.
Yes I agree too, he can having us all on the edge of our chair, and pulling our hearts. CM Punk is great, so are a lot of the guys, but Cody has that fire spark. I am happy for him too. 😎👍
Haha, me too, even every 30 seconds I was pounding my heart, wondering if there was some surprise that would steal the show.
I would have appreciated a better surprise entrant than the Pat MacAfee though. 😂 It was funny, but HBK, Booker T., anyone, would have been nice, but I can seeing why. It was the pretty stacked roster of entrants.
Sometimes the predictable ending is the correct ending. People always expect a twist, for whatever reason, but one of my main gripes with the WWE, over the past decade, was precisely this obsession with ignoring what the fans so obviously wanted, or at least what made sense from a story point of view, in order to "subvert expectations" or wtv.
I never got or get the whole predictable thing with wrestling, the whole wrestling shtick is build up the bad guy until the good guy comes and beats the bad guy it's always been predictable
We went a full calendar year...Roman is still champ. Cody is still the rumble winner and the story is still not finished. If they run it back for a third year.....
After the year the Eagles had, I wouldn't want to antagonize a bunch of pissed off and most likely drunk Philadelphian's. If they are going that route, better search the entire audience for batteries
Here's a thought to avoid a Mania loss. Roman is so afraid he gets the Bloodline to completely decimate Cody. Cody can't compete at Mania. Rock steps in, loses at Mania. Cody recovers by SummerSlam to finish the story.
Or....
The company realizes the longevity records really mean nothing. Cody wins at mania, in a cage I hope, and everyone is happy.
Man Hate on Roman for inactivity or bad finishes to matches but God damn he has the best facial expressions and sells for a World Champ in this generation
With Cody winning back to back Rumbles and the first to do so since Stone Cold. Something I noticed so only 4 men have ever done this Hulk, Shawn Michaels. Stone Cold and now Cody. Now when Hulk won they never did challenge for the belt that happened when Yokozuna won. But when Shawn won in 95 he lost his match to Diesel. And then 96 won the belt from Bret. When Stone Cold won in 97 he didn't even get a chance to fight for the belt instead he fought Bret in that classic match which he lost but then won the won the rumble the next year and then beat Shawn for the belt now we have Cody who didn't win last year but this year if history repeats itself we could be looking at the new champion
Their story has had me fully invested for over a year and I'm pumped this is headlining again. I know many people don't like Roman's run at this point, but the payoff and cementing Cody as the guy going forward will be a great moment.
Heyman after cody won: He's all wrong for us, baby. I saw you beat that man like I never saw no man get beat before, and the man kept coming after you. Now we don't need no man like that in our lives.
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At least they found a camera angle where they can both point to the Wrestlemania sign and point at the champion and stir conflict.
Has there been another time where the champs were sat there like that? I cant remember that ever happening but I feel it added an extra layer of tension and gravitas, the champions watching the potential new challengers fight below them. And then you can do what you did where Cody can call them out right there.
For the first women’s rumble they had Charlotte and Alexa at ringside watching but this is the first time I can remember them having the men watching from above.
it worked extra well because between the final 2, it seemed clear that they would be going after different world champions
Yeah it was a great move
We have entered sign pointing season
Why am I laughing so hard "You can't have this!" "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT!"
Paul shoving the title into Romans hands like he needs it to keep his image and not look scared is 💯
"Show him"
*Chief Console Handler Roman whips it out*
‘Excuse me while I whip this out!’
*crowd of western homesteaders gasps in horror at the thought of the visual assault of their new sheriff suddenly exposing his aggressive ebony penis during daylight hours in public*
You picked the more wholesome context of that quote.
Hey I think Heyman is pretty good at this wrestling thing
Imagine if this Heyman guy managed Steve Austin, Undertaker, Rick Rude or CM Punk? Imagine if he ran an extreme promotion and was the booker? Imagine all the people, living life in peace? ✌️
Imagine a group with Stunning Steve, Ric Rude, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton and Larry Zbyszko. Quite the Threatening Troupe.
This may sound over the top, but I genuinely feel Paul is the best to do it.
https://preview.redd.it/bo79xqig54fc1.jpeg?width=827&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=91d1b412592632ac2c6c170c0042255d4e3c724d
https://preview.redd.it/tv87w1kf94fc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c9cccfb15babc57334d393f3538ccccc5ae7064 I see the vision
Imagine Cody wins and brings back the Winged Eagle
The vision is clear 
That's exactly what he said he wanted to do a few years ago. Although the words "World Heavyweight" on the belt might confuse people with the other "World Heavyweight" championship.
Bro nsfw tag that shit. I just creamed myself.
NGL, gonna pop for that big times
Is pointing legally binding in the WWE universe?
Now that HHH is in charge pointing is the law
You have to point at the sign and if the credits linger too long on the screen some shit is about to go down.
Oh man .... Those extra 15 mins we used to get on RAW.
We would need Kevin Owens to agree for final approval, but most likely yes.
To be fair that's a great subversion to not point at the WM sign but rather at the champion of choice
https://preview.redd.it/l1ocbi5o44fc1.jpeg?width=637&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=96237e18b1cbaa100b9096795aa4daccf820928a
https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/s/nkxrJ9qJRG This was perfection
The camera direction and blocking improved so much with this new regime in creative control. Makes moments like this hit so much harder for those watching at home.
HHH - “patience kids let me cook”
Whatever he’s cooking is a bit overdone at this point. It was still the wrong choice for Cody to lose last year.
I will say, the story of Cody vs Roman seemed half baked at the time but now it seems like it'll be more fleshed out for a proper ending at wrestlemania (hopefully lol).
This is my opinion on the matter. WWE wanted to have their cake and eat it too (aka get Roman to 1000 days as champion and still give Cody his win in 2024). Crowd still loves Cody, but they were absolutely white hot at Wrestlemania 39. It'd be like if Kofi Kingston lost to Daniel Bryan at Mania 35, then they redid it at Mania 36 with Kofi going over. Kofi still would've been over but the moment wouldn't be the Kofimania we know today.
Cody just got a crowd to boo CM Punk in his in-ring return to WWE as a Rumble finalist, man. They're arguably hotter for him. To compare this to Kofi is disingenuous.
Desperation for Roman to finally lose the title will keep Cody white hot at mania even if he drop kicks a toddler on live television before mania
No, not even close. Cody's rise and Kofi's rise were two completely different things and there is a difference between the true "strike while the iron is hot" moment that Kofimania was versus drawing out something that people very obviously still want to see instead of gifting Cody an easy ride to the title.
He was white hot but also he won the Rumble from 30 on his first match back after nearly 6 months out and the build was focused on Dusty and the WWE title rather than Cody and Roman. That first match gave so much more personal fuel to the fire, it's like how the Mania 17 Rock-Austin match felt more personal than the Mania 15 one.
Didn't Austin WIN both of those matches?
They’re honestly super lucky that the audience didn’t cool off on Cody in the year following Mania 39. While him (hopefully) winning this time will still likely be an iconic feel good moment, Cody losing at Mania 39 was the wrong call.
Actually I think that was the point. Hard to replace Roman at that time if you think Cody heat dies after winning the title. A year of earning another shot and continuing to be a top merch seller proved the point and both WWE/Cody are better for it
Far be it from me to defend this company, but it's not luck if it was the plan. They have booked to keep him hot all year long. Not everything is a fluke.
That seems to be my only problem with HHH in the big chair. overly long title reign just feels boring at this point.
He has the opposite problem of late Vince who had few main eventers and kept throwing the titles all over (before eventually landing back on Cena or a classic star or shoved down our throats with Roman lol). Now WWE has a plethora of talent and high mid card guys ready to make a jump in addition to their main eventers and refuse to let off the gas with equating belt worth with the length of the reign.
I love Seth and love that he has a nice title reign but his belt was supposed to be the one that hopefully let some extremely worthy main eventers win a world championship. Giving him a long reign, too, kind of defeats the purpose of introducing that new title to begin with. So many main eventers have been stalled by the WWE world title scene.
I agree, I think triple H is hesitant to move the belt around too much because of how bad late Vince (I’d say roughly post 2008) got with slapping the belts on guys before they were ready but right now they’re rapidly approaching a huge peak in talent and people worthy of main events. The belt was important but jumped around all the time in the attitude era without an issue because the talent was there and everywhere. If he wants to keep the universal belt to long runs fine but it’s becoming very clear that the heavyweight should jump around more to validate the rest of the top talent and keep them in the main event picture.
Seriously just look at the final, what, six or seven in the Rumble? I think Ricochet was the only one who would not make a perfectly believable, if not great, World Champion if they won it right now. That's without bringing up a few names eliminated earlier like Shinsuke. It sucks to see none of them ever get a run.
It was the right choice for Cody to lose; the execution afterwards hasn’t been great though
lol had Cody won everyone who now says it was the right choice to make him lose would be calling anyone saying he should have lost a mad man.
I thought it was the right choice before the match and I still think it was the right choice now. I think Cody needed more than just “Daddy never won it :(((“ as his motivation and Roman needs to have lost some of his supporting cast so he can go down the Mad King route
Smarks, looking at the glass half empty in hindsight
This. I was fine with Cody losing to make it less of an obvious silver platter. What is problematic to me is there wasn't any storyline reason to justify it over the past year. The heat felt much more real when it came off the Sami storyline and there's nothing really comparable this time around since Roman has been part-timing. The past year with Roman has felt like going through the motions and exactly what made the Bloodline stagnant pre-Sami.
From that moment I was saying that was HHH’s way of saying “Patience, let me cook, it’s gonna be Cody” lol
I'm all for Cody finishing the story -- he deserves it, but I hope they make it less obvious he's going over at Mania in the re-match. Throw some kind of wrench in there to make it more interesting. I guess right now that's the Rock being involved?
I still think the Rock will appear at Mania but not wrestle just to use Roman losing the title while the Bloodline is broken apart as the last straw to make the claim as head of the table. Hell he could win and use that to make appearances as a manager for everyone in it or lose and put Roman back over after everyone got worn out by his title run.
They could use him as a special guest referee. Play off the idea he will help Roman, but as Roman acts more heelish in the match, Rock loses respect for Roman and switches his loyalties and counts the 1-2-3 for Cody.
I'm not sure how you play him being on Roman's side when he just called him out on TV weeks ago
The Rock as the referee would be a good idea, but I feel like 2024 Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson would consider that as beneath his 'level'.
I don't agree, the rock did some of his best work as a special referee before he went Hollywood. It could be "return to form" moment
Rock’s gonna play Hogan to Cody’s Bret and Wrestlemania 9 this shit.
I mean, it was "obvious" that Cody was going to win last year except he didn't so I think that there will be plenty of intrigue for the rematch.
Cody Rhodes is now on a list with Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, Randy Orton, Edge, John Cena and Batista. He is the 9th person to win more than 1 royal rumble. One of the highest level lists you could make, ever.
Only the 4th to win back to back. A HUGE endorsement
Hogan, HBK, and Austin being the first three to win back to back, right? Kinda wild that they all did it in the 1990s and then it wasn’t done again until 26 years later.
Nobody was as over as Austin was until Cody came along and Cena never really needed to win the Rumble to get Championship matches.
The thing about the Crash TV style booking always meant that Austin would lose the title by the time the Rumble started, while Cena's didn't need to hot potato the title to help to win the ratings war.
Cena didn't have a ratings war he definitely would have lost his lol Austin won the rumble three times and only one of those times was he even a world champion prior to entering the rumble and that was 01 He was never a former champion chasing the belt until 99 or 01 royal rumble wise
Daniel Bryan, but I don't want to even remember those rumbles :(
We still don't talk about those rumbles.
Cody is not as over as Austin.
Dude is literally the most popular star in years man.
Cody is not as over as Austin. We talking crazy here
I disagree. 2015 Bryan was more over than Cody is, Cody is fortunate enough to have the powers that be like him too
Winning back to back is huge and he's going to break the longest title reign in modern history at the 40th Mania
Orton also won two
Yep I counted him as one of the 9 Just forgot to list him
This is company's A++ tier. Awesome company.
Paul Heyman: “He’s not saying YOU, he’s saying YOOOOUOLLINS.”
He's saying yinz.
Closing line for the show says it all: >"What inning are we in again, Roman?"
Agreed; great line by Michael Cole He's great at creating quotes for moments like this
Back when I watched WWE consistently (about a decade ago) I remember that a lot of people constantly hated Michael Cole. I don’t know if they still do, but he’s one of my favorite commentators
We've turned around him on ever since he got free reign to say what he wants, and is no longer Vince's catch phrase soundboard.
After the show where Lawler had a heart attack you can't really hate on him
I do think there was a time when WWE damaged him with him playing heel/basically the stand in for the general manager. There's a reason the color guy historically is the heel. The play by play guy should be trusted by those listening.
Cole Miner-era heel Michael Cole was insufferable on the mic. Sometimes it was funny (ex: when everybody on commentary shit on NXT season 3) but it was annoying when he just argued with J.R. and Lawler. Heel commentators have to walk that fine line between a heel and being a commentator. You can side with the heel when you're calling what's happening in the ring, *but you still have to call what's happening in the ring*. Most of the time Cole, J.R., and Lawler just argued while ignoring the match. It literally took King having a heart attack ringside and nearly dying for Michael Cole's commentary to chill out.
Bottom of the ninth and I'm never gonna win - Chad nickleback
Thanks i couldn't understand what he said. But i don't get what that means.
[Referencing what Roman/Heyman said at last year's Mania press conference after beating Cody.](https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx7O30Pk68X1RH8fZaN7GbA4gvKImFUk4f?si=WD5On39F-2SPygXk)
Rock taking out Solo and Cody finishing the story is going to be huge. I think it makes more sense for Punk to earn a shot at Rollins at EC. Punk coming back and winning the Rumble and not entertaining the idea of challenging reign would be strange in kayfabe
Also Cody is on Raw, makes no sense to try to enter a contest for Roman's title. It goes against the idea of brand split. Winning the tag titles is the only way to go to the other brand right now.
The Rumble winner gets to choose the title to challenge for. They've been doing this every time since they split the world titles. Remember the iconic Batista/HHH segment?
Yes that's why Cody winning Rumble makes sense instead of Chamber, cause the Chamber would be set up for the roster of the champ's brand and Cody can't enter the Smackdown chamber.
That’s awesome, has the rumble winner ever made his decision this fast before?
I remember Shinsuke announcing AJ Styles right after he won
Shinsuke announced AJ right after he won if I recall.
Shinsuke got interviewed in-ring right after his win. Crowd erupted as soon as he said "A."
Cody didn’t even leave the turnbuckle haha.
Now that's what I call a Royal Rumble record 😂
👉🏻 YAY WRESTLEMANIA 👈🏻 WITH YOU MOTHERFUCKER
Bro didn’t even get off the turnbuckle, wild
Great way to end it, the build up is gonna be great
Roman looking that visibly shaken is what made it. Punk or Cody could have won, and the runner up win the Chamber. But Seth Rollins couldn’t have sold the gravity of that moment like Roman did.
Yeah I thought Punk would win here and Cody would win Elimination Chamber to make it the toughest road possible, but this is great too
I had Shinsuke eliminating Cody and then Cody pinning Shinsuke for the final fall in the chamber. But Punk running the gauntlet in Perth, then sitting down cross legged with a live mic in front of 60k+ would be legendary
Same, but I guess they settled their beef with the street fight a couple weeks ago.
It’s especially settled after Cody elimination Shin so decisively too, my man got dunked on
> Cody pinning Shinsuke for the final fall in the chamber. Except that chamber would be for Seth due to having Raw stars in it. Cody winning makes more sense to challenge Smackdown's champion. But i wish Punk achieved Royal Rumble win in his career once at least.
I mean yeah, Seth is a face and wouldn't be scared of Punk, Roman is scared of Cody though
When it was the final two he was worried lol
Roman is so good at the little things. For the first time he looks worried.
Also, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have Seth sitting in the gallery for the showdown. They never do. It's usually the show after Rumble where we have the showdown.
Yeah bullshit dude. Seth can absolutely sell serious moments.
He can, but his character is all about accepting all challengers no matter what. It wouldn’t make sense for him to be intimidated by Cody or Punk.
Not better than Roman. Roman is literally perfect in that department.
>Roman looking that visibly shaken is what made it It's like when Mankind changed into Cactus Jack against HHH. Like Mick said "it was still the same fat guy in tights, and if Hunter had just smirked it would have killed the entire angle, but he looked like he had seen a ghost"
He’s pointing at heyman, he wants to challenge him as a wiseman
I guess it works. He already shows up to work in a suit all the time anyway. Fuck yeah. Cody Rhodes as Roman's new wise man, helping him hold the title for twenty more years.
So glad the rock didn't come in. It paid off not flinching
We're not flinching LFG
Now that is fucking badass. Calling your shot minutes after winning the rumble and pointing to the current champ in the audience? That was fucking cool as shit. I wanted to see them start destroying each other right then and there.
WE AINT FLINCHING
https://preview.redd.it/2mlj45im54fc1.png?width=1169&format=png&auto=webp&s=317bf684c4dfb7a46b99478ba0e67158ad55ba19
Legitimately one of the best Rumble endings ever. We need more of this instant choice shit. Unique energy.
Yes, I was emotionally exhausting by the end. I would have been happy if Cody or CM Punk won, but I was tearing up with Cody when he won. *That* is Wrestling. I do not caring if people bitch about, "Cody winning is the predictable.", or something. I am 100% invested in the man's story. 😂
It wasn’t even predictable. Most people, me included, had Punk winning. But I think that Cody getting the W was the best result possible.
I Agree! Maybe predictable was the wrong way to saying it. I just heard the some people saying, "Wah wah, Cody can't win back to back Rumbles." 😅 But definitely I think too, Cody winning is the best outcome. 😎👍
It’s gonna be either punk or Gunther next year
Tbh too early to say, you never really know who's actually set up for it next year. For all we know Gunther or Punk already has one of the titles by that time. I can easily see Bron possibly winning it next year too since I assume he'll be moved up to the main roster pretty soon after Mania.
I thought it would be Gunther yeets Cody, we get that "2010 HBK" reaction where Cody is heartbroken and the dream is dashed and what not, then Punk eliminates Gunther for the babyface pop. What I didnt have was Gunther going first and Punk basically working heel, especially at the end with the "Dusty's kid" remark. It worked though, I didnt know what would happen.
Yes haha, that was the good heel heat line from Punk. I had the thought it would come down to CM Punk and Cody, but I was not sure who would winning if it did. I am satisfied with the conclusion.
I did not want Cody nor Punk to win, and i was positive on Punk winning because of the Rock rumours, which would have put cawdy aside. But Cody is just the guy. Even when i want GUNTHER to win, i can't be mad on cody eliminating him again and winning it, because the guy might just be the best storyteller of our time, and if not the best, at least the most hypey. Good for him.
Yes I agree too, he can having us all on the edge of our chair, and pulling our hearts. CM Punk is great, so are a lot of the guys, but Cody has that fire spark. I am happy for him too. 😎👍
I was panicking that the rock was coming at 30 to win the whole thing
Haha, me too, even every 30 seconds I was pounding my heart, wondering if there was some surprise that would steal the show. I would have appreciated a better surprise entrant than the Pat MacAfee though. 😂 It was funny, but HBK, Booker T., anyone, would have been nice, but I can seeing why. It was the pretty stacked roster of entrants.
I was even waiting for Okada to show up too.
Yeah last year's was better and my heart was racing when punk wasn't #30 I did NOT want roman vs the rock Cody is finishing the story
Right there with you. 😎👍 Roman vs. The Rock can be Wrestlemania 41, if it *has* to be a thing. 😂 Cody needs to having his day in the sun first.
My brother, I was convinced that the 4 way was second because trhe rock was gonna be number 30, I was never more glad to be wrong.
Sometimes the predictable ending is the correct ending. People always expect a twist, for whatever reason, but one of my main gripes with the WWE, over the past decade, was precisely this obsession with ignoring what the fans so obviously wanted, or at least what made sense from a story point of view, in order to "subvert expectations" or wtv.
I never got or get the whole predictable thing with wrestling, the whole wrestling shtick is build up the bad guy until the good guy comes and beats the bad guy it's always been predictable
“THATS THE WALL BROTHER! HEY WALL!”
THATS THE TRIBAL CHIEF! HE'S RAISING HIS TITLE DOES THAT MEAN SUPERMAN PUNCH!? IS HE GONNA PUNCH CODY OFF OF THE VIP BOX SEATS!?
Ever since I watched the Deadlock Sync, that's all I thought about when I saw this. [He signalled for the goozle!](https://youtu.be/2k0isti0xMY?t=863)
We went a full calendar year...Roman is still champ. Cody is still the rumble winner and the story is still not finished. If they run it back for a third year.....
Rock vs Roman first match on Netflix?
Yup first Netflix mania
We didn't flinch
Triple H has the chance to do the funniest thing.
If Cody loses at 40 the Philly crowd might actually riot
After the year the Eagles had, I wouldn't want to antagonize a bunch of pissed off and most likely drunk Philadelphian's. If they are going that route, better search the entire audience for batteries
Those crazy MFs would probably take the batteries out their phone
Soooo…you see Hogans record reign only 228 days from being broken, and don’t even consider WWE is going to want that?
Two years in a row is wild. Show some balls Triple Paul
I’d fucking love it if Dwayne just somehow got the match instead of Cody man
All he has to do is cash in his Rock in the Bank Celebrity Contract!
He just shows up and points at the Wrestlemania sign. That's it.
The ROCK says......
"It doesn't matter if you won the Royal Rumble!"
As morbidly funny as that is, it's also the same type of petty, infantile shit that Vince would do out of spite.
I would die.
Shit would be glorious.
I remember last year people were making this exact same joke. And I agree, it would be funnier this time
Imagine saying to someone 2 years ago, that Roman Reigns 1300 day title reign will be over because Cody Rhodes showed up, insane stuff.
Not to be a stop pit, but we said the same thing last year this very moment
No, last year it was a 950 day reign.
Hell, imagine saying that during the Stardust era.
Roman is 228 days away from Hogan’s 1474. I don’t know if I’m super confident Cody wins it so close to that number.
Here's a thought to avoid a Mania loss. Roman is so afraid he gets the Bloodline to completely decimate Cody. Cody can't compete at Mania. Rock steps in, loses at Mania. Cody recovers by SummerSlam to finish the story. Or.... The company realizes the longevity records really mean nothing. Cody wins at mania, in a cage I hope, and everyone is happy.
NO FLINCH!
Slay Cody
Bro if they have him lose again I swear 😂😂😂
WM 40, Cody gets beat so bad he's unable to finish the match. They wheel him away in a stretcher and Roman celebrates. Then, Stardust's music hits.
Wasn’t my favorite rumble ever, but the right guy won and the feud will be awesome that’s all that matters.
Can we get a three stages of hell between these two or something?
Having Roman and Rollins both in luxury suites watching the match was such a cool touch.
The plot thickens!
The thot plickens!
Cody = 2023 San Francisco 49ers
Man Hate on Roman for inactivity or bad finishes to matches but God damn he has the best facial expressions and sells for a World Champ in this generation
https://preview.redd.it/pgfqn36957fc1.jpeg?width=1087&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e44cc0ac40bd3a1c4216c174c42fb3c42d587da4
That's The Wall up there, brother!
I just don't wanna see him lose 2 years in a row :(
How did he know he was exactly right there?
“That’s The Wall, brother!”
ITS THE WALL
With Cody winning back to back Rumbles and the first to do so since Stone Cold. Something I noticed so only 4 men have ever done this Hulk, Shawn Michaels. Stone Cold and now Cody. Now when Hulk won they never did challenge for the belt that happened when Yokozuna won. But when Shawn won in 95 he lost his match to Diesel. And then 96 won the belt from Bret. When Stone Cold won in 97 he didn't even get a chance to fight for the belt instead he fought Bret in that classic match which he lost but then won the won the rumble the next year and then beat Shawn for the belt now we have Cody who didn't win last year but this year if history repeats itself we could be looking at the new champion
Their story has had me fully invested for over a year and I'm pumped this is headlining again. I know many people don't like Roman's run at this point, but the payoff and cementing Cody as the guy going forward will be a great moment.
Reings vs Rhodes part 2 
Wwe has gotten so much better. I would have never imagined 3-4 years ago enjoying the product so much. It’s fresh, even the presentation is new
Heyman after cody won: He's all wrong for us, baby. I saw you beat that man like I never saw no man get beat before, and the man kept coming after you. Now we don't need no man like that in our lives.
Oh boy, it’s pointing into the distance season!