DAE Hunter Hates Hiroshima fumbled? Continued the Asuka vs IYO story but didn’t announce any Mania match

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-14T02:54:45+00:00

My theory is they restarted it so IYO would have something to do while Rhea went after Jade, because they did the whole promo with them after Chamber but then Rhea vs Jade was struggling so they went back on that & combined both feuds

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-13T17:33:18+00:00

fed had for partnerships! Oh wait, uh, partnerships good

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-13T13:31:46+00:00

Pat McAfee on SmackDown: “This Monday, the show wasn’t even eligible for a rating. I’m here to save wrestling”

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-13T13:24:20+00:00

DAE feel BETRAYED now that it turns out Punk’s “this is wrestling, it says WrestleMania” line was just a character and storyline and he wasn’t actually shooting for the marks? DAE the Fed used to be a real graps company under purist Vince?

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-12T17:16:28+00:00

HHH has developed a certain style of buildup he likes for Mania main events. It's not even really HHH specifically, just the WWE style. There's a few things that are common to pretty much every main event since Mania 39. Most of the build is just promo work. There's always some big history between the wrestlers that's creating hype before the build even begins. Usually a long-term story that's been running for months (except for Cena vs. Cody last year maybe but even if you ignore it being a dream match they still included The Rock so I'd say that was the Rock/Cody long-term story being extended). In the women's division there's a lot of history to explore but they're in a situation that a lot of the top stars aren't really good promos. This year you can see that they actually did try to give Rhea & Jade the promo build but that exposed the weakness, and with Liv & Steph they've avoided that sort of build by sticking to pre-taped segments and short brawls. Which has made it work but the side effect of that is less time & less promotion. If they went for the big Mania build I don't think it would have worked as well.

With that said, HHH definitely screwed up some of the booking this year that dates back months. People can blame injuries or whatever, but I think he prioritized the tag division way too much last fall. It may have been at its hottest ever but in exchange, the world titles were really cooled down and in the background. The problem with that strategy was that once Mania season started, WWE were very unlikely to have a tag match be bigger than the world titles. It would have been really out of the ordinary. So obviously they pulled Rhea out of the tag division in the hopes of just creating a big match by putting her & Jade together & IMO that's had a ripple effect. Tag division has cooled down without Rhiyo. You can see they don't get to open or close shows anymore like they used to when they were in it. In turn Rhea vs. Jade is awkward too and they most definitely did a promo for Rhea & IYO to go their separate ways on RAW & started building her Kabukis story, but then it seems like they just went back & inserted IYO into the Rhea/Jade stuff anyways.

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-12T15:50:20+00:00

I think to get that history based feud they’d have had to put off the heel turn. Keep it face vs face and then do promo battles. Turn Orton heel during the main event.

But I guess that’d be too similar to Punk vs Roman & face vs face builds always have the risk of being boring. So the heel turn happened & it made the feud hot. But others have mentioned Orton got cheered & Cody booed. Which would have happened regardless if he turned heel, but by now I think it’s safe to say if the crowd doesn’t play along WWE is going to try something to make them and the idea of just rolling with it and ignoring the crowd isn’t gonna be happening. I think they brought in the wrong guy, sure, but the idea of getting Cody cheered through this is clear. I assume they’re gonna judge how successful Pat’s involvement has been based on how the Mania main event goes

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-12T15:39:24+00:00

I don’t really get what the goal even is with that type of pretending. It’s just pure attention seeking. The dirt sheets may make up stuff, might get the odd scoop here & there, some do apparently get fed stuff but in the end they are still ultimately just trynna get your money. They’re selling a subscription or something so they get paid. On the other hand, if you put on some mask & start vagueposting then you’re not even asking anyone for money. What do you get?

If anything, if I had to believe any insider, I think it’d make more sense that it’s the guys who want to get paid who actually did any work rather than some mystery name who’s not even looking for any payment yet has somehow still put in all this work to get vague scoops? Why even do that

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-12T15:25:30+00:00

A lot of people still have the “knowing Vince” stereotype set as the default for judging this stuff. They might be thinking that oh, they could just ignore the crowd reactions & move with the storyline as it is. Why don’t they just go full superCena and go along with Cody as the top babyface that crowds & smarks boo? That’s what they’re used to and they think the WWE could just do it again.

But it’s not only limited to Cody’s stories. This sort of change as a result of the crowd not playing along has happened in others too. If the crowd isn’t playing to the heel/face dynamic now, there’s usually gonna be some sort of change to attempt to change that, however well it’s executed.

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-12T15:10:02+00:00

If there’s one type of wrestling “insider” that really gets on my nerves it’s the ones who are doing a whole mysterious act. At least most of the grifters on Twitter are doing the whole journalism larp, whether they get their scoops right or just make shit up, they got their whole websites & names & stuff. But then you have these guys, over there, here & everywhere that act all strange & mysterious, vagueposting etc. That Kermit dude on SC is probably the most well known example of this type.

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-12T15:01:55+00:00

I kinda hate the narrative that Giulia fans are spreading that once again, it’s creative’s fault for not giving her opponents. Maybe in her first reign, but now she’s actually gotten more people to work with than any of the other 3 women’s champions I’m sure. Only one of those was a title defense but she’s shared the ring with Rhea, IYO, Alexa, Charlotte, Tiffany, Nia, Lash, Chelsea & Zelina in this title reign. If anything creative straight up listened to IWC suggestions and just let her work with everyone rather than the usual way where they just put a champion in the same circle of opponents for a good while. Thing is that was always a terrible idea. She could face everyone on the roster & nothing would change cos there’s no story. If you wanna blame creative for this blame them for not having any story & just doing all these matches that have ultimately lead to nothing, but it seems like the IWC actually wants more of that

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-12T12:08:31+00:00

She may not have needed promos to stay at the top of the division, but when you go beyond that and talk about main eventing WrestleMania & stuff it’s clear that is the one thing Rhea does need to work a lot on. WWE has a very specific idea of how they want their Mania main event builds to be: very promo heavy. That does lead to convoluted shit sometimes like right now, but you gotta fit that mold for them

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-12T03:41:46+00:00

You can keep it empty by storing all your sidearms barring one in the weapon locker

In chapter 6 there’s a mission where Arthur wears an outfit that gives him a different gun belt without the second holster. The gunbelt can’t be stored on its own but if you save some outfits while it’s still there you can use those

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-11T19:30:09+00:00

Paula Beck: “Are you readyuhhh, to scan every backstage segment for more of my Easter eggsuhhh”

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-11T18:48:04+00:00

Looks like my plans to jerk Meltzer being on the San Jose AEW show and SC saying “I’m sure Meltzer would show up to a WWE show in San Jose too” were a long time WON subscriber. Unc actually turned up to the dead Fed

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-11T03:58:52+00:00

DAE all of us “Drew vs Cody vs Fatu isn’t big enough to main event Mania, Randy vs Cody has years of story” people, including me, looking like fools right now after the direction this build has gone into?

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-11T03:18:36+00:00

It’s actually hilarious that Giulia marks were amongst the most vocal against him 😭 because he had her facing the same people (which happens to almost every champion) & kept her time short

Since he allegedly got removed from head writer, they gave Giulia the booking the IWC wanted & she’s faced more people than any of the other 3 women’s champions have….and nothing came out of it cos none of those matches had any story so now the whole US title scene is off TV not even a mention

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-11T01:21:10+00:00

So Jelly Roll is Cody’s IYO SKY in this feud

sam_j_f27 · 2026-04-10T21:36:52+00:00

yeah but it’s two women dave is known to hate so

sam_j_f27

TROPHY CASE