Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes (WWE - 4/7/2024)
Apr 10, 2024 20:47:52 GMT -5
Post by microstatistics on Apr 10, 2024 20:47:52 GMT -5
I expected a lot of things from this match but great *wrestling* was not one of them so this was a hugely pleasant surprise. Cody trying to start things off with a double leg was a good omen. Building off of Saturday's result, a frazzled Cody getting bossed by an extra-confident Reigns before chipping his way into the ascendancy was exponentially more compelling than their generic 50:50 wrestling from last year.
Cody did well enough in his biggest match but this was really a clinic from Roman. The Tribal Chief run has perhaps underwhelmed slightly in-ring wise but he really put it together here: just a perfect blend of character work, offense, and selling. The overbooking was also perfectly done and had some nice symmetry to it: Jey taking out Jimmy, Cena taking out Solo, Rock taking out Cena, Taker taking out Rock, a mangled Seth doing nothing physically but landing the lethal psychological blow. The struggle on the magical third Cross Rhodes was also a really nice touch.
As a culmination of a decade-long collection of stories and sagas, this was a remarkable success. Wholesome post-match too that's not far behind Mick Foley's and Eddie Guerrero's world title wins.
Cody did well enough in his biggest match but this was really a clinic from Roman. The Tribal Chief run has perhaps underwhelmed slightly in-ring wise but he really put it together here: just a perfect blend of character work, offense, and selling. The overbooking was also perfectly done and had some nice symmetry to it: Jey taking out Jimmy, Cena taking out Solo, Rock taking out Cena, Taker taking out Rock, a mangled Seth doing nothing physically but landing the lethal psychological blow. The struggle on the magical third Cross Rhodes was also a really nice touch.
As a culmination of a decade-long collection of stories and sagas, this was a remarkable success. Wholesome post-match too that's not far behind Mick Foley's and Eddie Guerrero's world title wins.
