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Tag: Cody Rhodes

  • PLE Play-By-Play: Elimination Chamber 2025

    Elimination Chamber 2025 was one of the most groundbreaking premium live events I have ever seen. It’s safe to say we are officially on the road to WrestleMania.

    Photo credit: WWE

    Mystery Solved

    The mystery of who attacked Jade Cargill all those months ago had been eating at WWE fans since the attack and on Saturday we finally got our answer.

    As the Women’s Elimination Chamber match kicked off the show, a returning Jade Cargill made her way to the ring before the referees could lock the cage shut. She entered the structure and raised a fist toward Liv Morgan before quickly diverting to Naomi, brutally attacking her and leaving her incapacitated after slamming her head between the chamber doors. Naomi was deemed unfit to compete and henceforth eliminated from the match.

    I’ve got only four words for everyone…I told ya so! I mean, plenty of people saw this coming, but there was still the chance that it could’ve been Bianca. I went into depth on this topic in last week’s Raw Rundown, basically stating that Naomi had the motivation to attack Jade, she was the first to show up at the scene of the crime, was quick to blame Raquel and Liv, and seemed a bit off mentally the night she lost her tag titles.

    Bianca Belair heads to Wr-EST-leMania!

    The final result of the women’s chamber match was the EST of WWE punching her ticket to WrestleMania. My prediction over on X was that Alexa Bliss would win the chamber, but I really had no basis as to why I thought this. Neither Rhea Ripley nor Iyo Sky has any kind of feud going on with any of the match’s participants so it was more of a gut-feeling kind of thing.

    The match itself was spectacular. We had tons of violent spots inside the sinister structure. Heads bashing off of glass, bodies crashing onto the floor, faces rubbing against steel chains, and who could forget the whipping that Liv Morgan took from Bianca Belair? It sounded brutal.

    Although I did love the match in ring, my only complaint is that it didn’t set up any feuds for WrestleMania besides Naomi vs Jade and Bianca vs Rhea/Iyo. Liv Morgan looked like a million bucks, but what’s next for her? Bayley and Roxanne Perez barely had any action against each other, not even one of them eliminating the other. And that’s an ongoing feud! Alexa Bliss was the crowd favorite from the second she exited her pod, but even she still seemed directionless afterward.

    Tiffy and Trishy Get The W in Toronto

    I both love and hate using the phrase “nothing burger” to describe a match. For as fun as it is to say, it sucks having to use it to describe what was an otherwise solid match.

    In ring, sure, it was pretty good. Trish Stratus took some crazy shots from Nia Jax, getting swung around like a garden hose, but overall it just felt like a time filler. You can’t tell me that this match didn’t feel like something that you would see on any old episode of Friday Night Smackdown.

    I guess Trish Stratus did a good job elevating Tiffany Stratton before the biggest match of her career at Mania, but I think a title defense against Trish and an appearance from The Queen afterward would’ve done the job much better.

    Absolute Carnage

    Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens in an unsanctioned match was almost everything that I wanted it to be. In my mind, this is a match-of-the-year contender. That’s two in a row from KO as well because his match at Royal Rumble was also one of my favorites.

    These two did everything that they advertised to one another. We had double table breakages, hockey sticks, barbed-wire coated steel chairs, and more. I am just nitpicking at this point, but the only thing this match was missing for me was some blood. Like I said in my Smackdown Summary, I don’t always need blood to really get into a match. In fact, I’d rather them skip out on it most of the time. However, this match was different. Sami and Kevin practically killed each other. You’re telling me that a barbed-wire steel chair didn’t cause any bleeding at all? Not even on accident?

    Aside from my minor complaint, this match was perfect. It was exactly what their story needed. I can’t say much more than that.

    The Viper Strikes Back

    The second of many big returns on the night was Randy Orton, who came back to save Sami Zayn from a package piledriver onto the concrete floor. As a massive Randy Orton fan, I was praying that Randy would make his comeback tonight. After he skipped out at the rumble, I knew it had to be here in Toronto.

    Randy is back and out for blood. He stormed down to the ring and delivered RKOs to everyone he could get his hands on. I feel bad for all of those poor security guards who tried to get in Randy’s way. I will also never forgive them for taking away a punt kick to Kevin Owens from us. I have a feeling we will see one sometime in the near future. It’s only fair. One banned move for another.

    Either way, I am glad we have Randy back, and this will definitely be the Mania match for both him and KO. My only question now is will we see Sami Zayn on the WrestleMania card, or will he be put on the shelf until later on?

    The Men’s Chamber

    We all received the result that we needed from this year’s men’s Elimination Chamber match. John Cena will head to his final WrestleMania to main event against Cody Rhodes for a chance at his 17th world championship.

    First, let me just say that the finish of this match was so poetic. Who better to have dook it out for the Mania main event than John Cena and CM Punk? They have so much rich history together. The sight of them embracing in the ring before fighting, and Cena screaming “I’m sorry” as Punk faded out of consciousness was pure cinema.

    The complaint that I had about the women’s match does not stand true for this one at all. We received a couple of Mania feuds from this match, including Damien Priest vs Drew McIntyre, and CM Punk vs Seth Rollins vs (probably) Roman Reigns. The only one I am unsure about is Logan Paul, but you can stick him against anyone and it’ll be an attraction. That’s why I said unsure and not worried!

    What I am worried about though is the future of Drew McIntyre. He looked super weak tonight, losing to yet another roll-up from Damien Priest. Why do they keep doing this to Drew? After the year he just had it doesn’t make any sense to me. They seriously have nothing better for him at the show of shows than a one-off feud with Damien Priest? I was excited for Bloodline bounty hunter Drew. He was supposed to come for Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Jacob Fatu, Solo Sikoa, or anybody other than Damien Priest.

    I can’t say I am excited for this match at all. The way Damien Priest has been booked lately is comparable to the likes of Cody Rhodes. He looks invincible. Nothing can stop him. He never loses clean. If I had to guess, Priest will probably beat the Scottish Warrior with a roll-up after kicking out of five claymores. I’m calling it now.

    The Sellout of The Century

    There are no words to describe what happened in the main event of the show other than legendary. This moment will never be forgotten. The John Cena heel turn was one of the most unpredictable story points in the history of professional wrestling. It officially feels like WrestleMania season is upon us.

    The segment started out with what I thought would be just another cheese-ball promo from perpetual good-guy Cody Rhodes. I knew in the back of my mind he would never accept The Rock’s offer. I just had hoped he would so Cena would have a heel opponent for WrestleMania (oh how the tables turned). Dropping an F-bomb uncensored was not on my bingo card, however.

    And then it happened, the moment that will go down in history. The Rock signals to John Cena as he hugs it out with the WWE Champion to deliver the low blow and end a 20-year babyface run. It was evil. It was truly diabolical. It was lemon-scented. Nobody in the crowd, on commentary, or the beaten and bloodied Cody Rhodes could believe their eyes.

    For as perfect as this segment was, I have one complaint. Why did Travis Scott have to be involved in this at all? What did he add? What did he bring to the table? It wasn’t like iShowSpeed’s rumble appearance that was meaningless and designed for clicks online. This was a massive moment that will forever be stained by a clout-chasing Travis Scott. If he wanted to be involved with WWE so badly, why not just have him perform one of his crappy songs? I thought that’s what he was advertised for. Get him off of our screens. He didn’t deserve to be a part of this.

  • 2/28/25 Smackdown Summary

    It’s the night before the Elimination Chamber, and this week’s episode of Friday Night Smackdown was the perfect segue toward the next stop on the road to Wrestlemania.

    Image credit: Alex Bierens De Haan

    It’s Tiffy/Trishy Time in Toronto

    The show started out with a segment that clearly was meant to hype up the in-house crowd starring hometown hero Trish Stratus. Trishy Time called out her tag team partner and WWE Women’s champion Tiffany Stratton to aid in her endeavor.

    After the two generously donated their brand spankin’ new Maple Leafs jerseys to some lucky fans, they were interrupted by Women’s United States champion Chelsea Green (who is also a Canadian btw). Chelsea used her title and heel heat to turn on her hometown crowd and pledged her allegiance to the United States, setting up a match between her and Tiffany Stratton.

    This match was slightly underwhelming in the ring to me, especially for a match between Smackdown’s two women’s champions. Although, I was happy that they went with the finish that they did. The surprise attack by Nia Jax and Candice LeRae was meant to build more excitement for a match that I am not particularly interested in. I’m glad they decided not to bury Chelsea Green (again) with a loss in a non-title match, so at least there’s that.

    US Title Tournament

    Since it’s like, 2 am at the time of me writing this review, I am going to summarize the entirety of the United States title tournament that stretched throughout tonight’s episode in this one segment of my review.

    Three matches were announced for the night, and all three of the victors would go head to head in the main event in a triple threat match. The winner of the tournament will face Shinsuke Nakamura for the United States Championship at some point in the future.

    The first of these matches was Andrade vs Jacob Fatu (originally booked for Solo Sikoa). These two had great chemistry in the ring and put on a spectacular match. However, Jacob Fatu would predictably get the win and advance onward.

    Carmelo Hayes and Braun Strowman also had a tournament match tonight. I was a big fan of this match’s finish. Carmelo Hayes pulled an Eddie Guerrero after Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga interfered to ensure Strowman couldn’t get his giant hands on Jacob Fatu in the finals. Melo didn’t miss on this opportunity, and Strowman was disqualified for a “chair shot.” This was a gimmick that we haven’t seen in WWE in a while, and I thought that it fit Carmelo Hayes’ opportunistic character well.

    The final qualifying match was LA Knight vs Santos Escobar. LA Knight hit a gnarly BFT on a mid-air Santos Escobar to seal the deal and move on to the triple threat. Personally, I haven’t really been able to get behind the BFT as a finishing move. Not because it doesn’t look deadly, but mainly because it just looks awkward. Nonetheless, this one definitely hit me differently (along with Santos Escobar lol).

    Main eventing the show (match-wise anyway) was the triple threat finale to this makeshift tournament. I really enjoyed this match. Any bout featuring Jacob Fatu is naturally a banger. Seriously, if this guy can clean up his promo skills just a little bit more he’ll be a world champion in a year or two. I know a lot of people like them but to me, they just aren’t hitting yet.

    Anyhoo, LA Knight would pick up the win on a lifeless Carmelo Hayes after Fatu hit his signature moonsault, but was pulled out of the ring by Knight before he could land the pinfall.

    I am happy that they are giving LA Knight a second chance at the US Title. I was intrigued by the initial decision to put the belt on a newly defined Shinsuke Nakamura, but so far they just haven’t done a good job building him up as a formidable champion. He has barely appeared on Smackdown in the past few weeks, never mind defending his title. I believe Knight will pick up the win in their next match. I do hope that the loss doesn’t bury Nakamura though. If it does, I fear his WWE career might be on its last legs.

    Overall, this tournament was an awesome showcase of Smackdown’s midcard talent. Three-hour Smackdowns could really benefit from events like this on both the men’s and women’s side.

    Tag Team Chaos

    Smackdown’s thriving tag team division was on full display tonight in this absolutely absurd segment. What seemed like a routine match between The Street Profits and Los Garza would turn into an all-out brawl.

    DIY interrupted The Street Profits’ entrance before the match would even start, followed by Pretty Deadly, and eventually The Motor City Machine Guns.

    There was no clear winner to me in this segment. Every team had an awesome spot somewhere amidst the chaos. I predict that this will lead to a five-team ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championships at Wrestlemania.

    A Chamber Promo Like No Other

    Tonight, we had five of the six members of this year’s Elimination Chamber match meet in the ring for the final time before the big night. This mega-promo sent my hype levels through the roof for tomorrow’s PLE.

    It all started with Drew McIntyre interrupting a John Cena video package, calling the 16-time world champion a hypocrite. Damien Priest would interrupt and do his best to keep up with Drew on the mic.

    Next came Seth Rollins, who was doing his best oven-mitt cosplay tonight. The three men who faced off for the World Heavyweight Championship at last year’s Money In The Bank PLE were reunited in the ring for the very first time to cook each other, this time with microphones before they were interrupted again by CM Punk.

    Obviously, there is plenty of heat between these guys. They went back and forth insulting each other and stating their cases for why they will each win the chamber and go on to Wrestlemania. That was until the moment of truth. The return (or debut) of John Cena on his retirement tour. Or so we thought…

    Cena’s music hit and the arena went nuts, only to realize shortly after that it was actually Logan Paul. Let me just say that Logan Paul is so good at this whole WWE superstar thing. He kept up on the mic with legends like CM Punk, Seth Rollins, and Drew McIntyre. That’s not even mentioning his in-ring abilities. I love heels. They are my favorite characters in all of WWE and pretty much always have been. I grew up a bald Randy Orton fan, so naturally, I gravitate toward dastardly characters like the one Logan Paul has made himself out to be.

    The one guy I am worried about after this whole war of words was Damien Priest. He sounded very weak on the mic tonight, getting outshined by virtually everyone. His first promo with Drew was weak, where he repeated himself about “beating Drew’s ass” over and over again, and he barely had anything to say once the big stars began to shine. This Elimination Chamber could be a make-or-break moment for Damien Priest and so far, he hasn’t impressed me among the big-time main eventers.

    Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn

    KO and Sami delivered an awesome promo leading into tomorrow’s unsanctioned match. My expectations for this match are up in space. I want a bloodbath. Typically, I am not the biggest fan of those kinds of matches, but after seeing what Kevin Owens went through at the Royal Rumble (what a great birthday present that was) and knowing the history between these two guys, I want to see them destroy each other. I want tables, ladders, chairs, steel steps, kendo sticks, toolboxes, and any other “zayn-y” items they can find in the surrounding area. The promo they delivered was so unbelievably personal toward one another that I even think that this match should main event the show, especially in Canada.

    Selling His Soul? Pt. 2

    We saw a series of events happen tonight that could convince Cody to turn toward The Rock and join him as his corporate champion.

    We saw Cody receive a number of gifts from The Final Boss like a special locker room, food, wine, and even a brand-new truck. Throughout the night, Cody talked with a host of different superstars like R-Truth and Drew McIntyre who all gave him different advice. The most impactful to me was CM Punk, who supported Cody selling out and eventually turning on The Rock.

    The show ended with a video package from The Rock, telling the WWE Champion that he hopes he will join him tomorrow at the chamber. He even had a custom lifting belt that read “Cody Rhodes’ Soul” and listed the anniversary of his father’s death (which I thought was a little weird). Overall, it got really personal, and this story could go a million different routes.

    My prediction is that Cody will sell his soul to The Rock, turning him heel. I am still sticking with the idea of Cena winning the chamber and getting his final Mania main event. I think that dynamic works better against a heel champion. However, I don’t see Cena winning his 17th here. I think it will be a year-long chase that culminates later in the year.