The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
Finish the story.
That’s what WWE needs to do at WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium on Sunday night by having Cody Rhodes end Roman Reigns; 940-plus day reign as world champion and pin his shoulders to the mat for the first time since December 2019.
Sure, you can have Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn come out to help Rhodes when The Bloodline gets involved, or have Jey Uso turn on Reigns, or make a mistake that costs his cousin being the Undisputed WWE Universal champion.
But let’s not try to get cute here, Triple H.
If WWE were really hell bent on getting Reigns to 1,000 days as champ then it shouldn’t have had Rhodes win the Royal Rumble and just had Zayn face the champ at WrestleMania, have Rhodes lose to him at SummerSlam and have the former AEW star win next year’s Rumble to finally beat Reigns or the champion at that time.
Trying to get cute with it now and extend the Rhodes-Reigns feud to this year’s SummerSlam with the belt still on the Tribal Chief doesn’t do much good.
Yes, it will add a bit of adversity for Rhodes to overcome but it will make fans question even more why Reigns’ match with Zayn was done at Elimination Chamber and not here.
It will make them question why Rhodes ended Solo Sikoa’s undefeated streak on the main roster on “Monday Night Raw” this week.
It risks the Rhodes-Reigns story potentially getting stale because the American Nightmare’s quest is too simple to be attacked from too many new angles.
Can “finish the story” work for four more months?
Yes, you can say he wasn’t quite ready to step up to someone the caliber of Reigns at a WrestleMania and that he has to dig even deeper inside to get there, but is that worth another four months of build?
Rhodes’ goal is to earn the world championship his family has never won and prove that he, and not Reigns, is truly the heir to everything the “American Dream” left behind in pro wrestling.
A loss at WrestleMania will leave doubts about that and end Rhodes being undefeated in WWE – which leaves something for the person to eventually beat him to end.
The last thing WWE wants is doubt leaving WrestleMania.
You want to stamp Rhodes as the new face of the company and give WWE maybe it’s most marketable babyface champion since John Cena as his merchandise sales reportedly continue to trend at main event level.
I don’t see anyone else in the company right now or between now and SummerSlam who can truly provide that.
You want it to be clear that this is the guy and we are shifting to a new phase in The Bloodline story to begin the next WWE year.
Heck, having Rhodes win can make it really easy to split the titles since the only belt that really matters to him is the WWE championship.
He’s said a few times the Undisputed WWE champion is a bit of a mouthful. So have the babyface retire the Universal championship and bring back the Big Gold Belt that his dad won back in 1986.
In a perfect world, the two men’s main event matches at SummerSlam are Roman Reigns against a Jey Uso who’s had enough or Jey and Jimmy vs. Roman and Solo in a split Bloodline.
And then Rhodes vs. a healthy and motivated Randy Orton.
We shouldn’t see Reigns-Rhodes again until WrestleMania next year if The Rock isn’t finally available. Let that sit and marinate.
So finish the story WWE, both with Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. It’s the best way and the right way. Get it done.
Elite Storytelling
Now that’s more like it
What transpired from start to finish in the Hangman-Elite storyline this week on Dynamite is exactly the type of layered and open-ended storytelling AEW has needed. The Young Bucks being attacked to open the show – and we still don’t know for certain by who – and Don Callis pulling a conflicted Kenny Omega away while “Hangman” Adam Page went with his friend set up the rest of the night.
To close the show, Omega and AAA Mega champion El Hijo del Vikingo put on about as fun a television match as you will see in what was a highlight-filled coming-out party for the talented 25-year-old luchador.
But it’s what happened after all the insane spots and Omega winning with a One Winged Angel that did it for me.
Omega was attacked by the Blackpool Combat Club and Hangman, who returned like a major babyface hero after driving back in the ambulance, came out to defend him to a big pop.
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Then Callis faked having been clocked by Hangman as to keep Omega from wanting to get off the fence about the cowboy rejoining The Elite.
Callis, who played a hand in The Bucks going heel with Omega a few years ago, now seems hell bent on keeping the Best Bout Machine under his thumb, focused on singles gold again and not trio or tags with his friends. All of this is happening while Callis has been trying to recruit Konosuke Takeshita along with free agents Jay White and Kota Ibushi. What’s his game here? How will he be punished when Omega finds him out and does Callis retaliate in some way? The more questions the better.
The Parent Trap
You may not get a more perfect WrestleMania build than what Dominik and Rey Mysterio just pulled off dating back seven-plus months.
From the slow burn of their split, putting them on different brands, the holiday-crashing vignettes to weeks of Dominik trying push and insult his dad into a match at SoFi Stadium.
And what of course finally pushed Rey over the edge to finally strike Dominik, which was his son disrespecting his mother on SmackDown this week.
It’s the one thing no dad would ever tolerate and the pop was deservedly enormous. Rey’s exact words were: “You don’t disrespect your mother like that!” Perfect.
The 10 Count
I’m not sure having Austin Theory deliver a promo on John Cena in an empty arena really was the best idea from WWE — especially after his idol dissed him for having fake crowd noise pumped in because no one cares about him. It gave off pandemic wrestling vibes, which you never want, and Theory really should have had to face the crowd’s reaction. Maybe it’s supposed to be a sign he’s not ready, as Cena said.
Was hoping for more of a surprise, but Daniel Garcia is a fine first opponent back for Adam Cole this week. The two cut a solid promo, but I’m not sure I need Cole trying to make Garcia doubt being a “sport entertainer.” We have seen that before. With the reactions Cole is getting and the exposure he’ll get from “All Access,” how long until he and MJF cross paths?
There are a lot of things in NXT that still come off pretty corny, including the Schism vs. Chase U debate stuff (also the tag title match being made over drinks and pool at the bar). That being said, it remains one of Stand and Deliver’s most interesting matches with The Rock’s daughter Ava Raine making her in-ring debut, Duke Hudson’s allegiance in question and Chase U up for grabs.
I thought the Brock Lesnar-Omos weigh-in was a good idea because you want to make it clear for the audience just how heavy the man The Beast will be lifting at WreslteMania is. But Lesnar should have hit the scales, too.
Thought Bayley, Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins all delivered excellent go-home promos for WrestleMania.
Go out of your way to watch Alex Hammerstone retaining his MLW world championship in a rematch against Jacob Fatu on “MLW Underground.” The athleticism displayed by the two heavyweights is off the charts. They tell an excellent story. Raven’s new group attacking Hammerstone after is the fresh story the champ needs.
I was a big fan of “The Outcasts” storyline for the women and I know you need time to build up a group to go against them with Sky Blue, Willow Nightingale and Riho coming into the picture. However, the formula to get there seems very similar to what we have seen in the past from the AEW women’s division. Let’s go deeper then the surface stuff soon, please.
Here’s what needs to happen with free agent Bill Goldberg. If he wants to return to WWE, then it should be for a program, maybe a retirement one, with Bron Breakker – with whom he is close.
If AEW is somehow about to secure his services, then have him mentor Wardlow in a Sting-like role and maybe even finally have his match with Chris Jericho after all these years. Goldberg didn’t get his shoulder right not to have one more match is my gut feeling.
I’m not going to read too much into all the CM Punk Instagram drama last Thursday, because there is only one of two outcomes here. He is never working in AEW again and likely sealed that, or he is creating some buzz for his eventual return and we are going to get a very unplugged CM Punk.
Jon Moxley’s biting comment’s Monday morning on “The Sessions” make me thing Punk will not be back. For Mox to say he has never seen “so much bulls–t drama in one place” certainly doesn’t reflect well on AEW. Also, if Punk doesn’t return and he has time on his hands … someone sit the man down for a Rocky marathon!
My heart feels for Josh Alexander, who has to relinquish the Impact world championship after tearing his triceps and needing surgery. Alexander was in the middle of such a great run of matches as champion during an opportunity he long waited for and deserved. Get well soon.
It’s hard to decide if I like Kofi-mana or Wrestle-Zaynia better, but man, Sami Zayn has had a great run of T-shirts lately.
Match to Watch
Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes, Undisputed WWE Universal championship at WrestleMania (April 2, 8 p.m., Peacock)
Three years of The Bloodline story, a year back in WWE for Cody Rhodes and a decades-long story for his family come down to this. Rhodes is looking to finish the story of finally bringing a WWE world championship home to his famous clan and being anointed the new frontman for the company. Reigns is looking to continue a run of a lifetime, a 940-plus day title reign and prove the son Dusty Rhodes “always wanted” is better than his actual son.
Honorable Mention: Bron Breakker (c.) vs. Carmelo Hayes (NXT championship) and Claudio Castagnoli (c.) vs. Eddie Kingston (Ring of Honor championship)
Wrestler of the Week
El Hijo Del Vikingo, All Elite Wrestling/AAA Lucha Libre
The 25-year-old luchador got an opportunity many young wrestlers dream of and knocked it out of the park, wrestling Kenny Omega in the main event of Dynamite last week. It was a coming out party for the AAA Mega champion in the United States and he and Omega left them wanting more after seeing him hit his 630 Senton splash through the table to Omega on the outside.
Around the Ring
- Vince McMahon paid back the $17.4 million toward the WWE board of directors investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him and John Laurinaitis.
- Former NHL player Darren McCarthy will team with Tommy Dreamer and Yuya Uemura against Bully Ray and the Good Hands on the April 6 Impact on AXS.
- El Hijo Del Vikingo will be at House of Glory’s show at the NYC Arena in Jamaica on Friday, June 16.
- Akira Tozawa announced the birth of his daughter Ten.
- Mercedes Mone’ will defend her IWGP women’s championship against AZM and Hazuki at Sakura Genesis on April 8.
- Stacy Keibler will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame
