IWC Scum — Manifesting Rusev Day, The Viper Finally Strikes, Gripes with The Gringos & More Offhanded Remarks
Welcome back to the column that puts the incessant whining and complaining in IWC. I’m NoDQ’s wayward son SkitZ, and this is the wrestling glutton in me mustering up his best efforts to stay active.
Lately, I just can’t seem to get in the groove. The thoughts and opinions are there – mounting piles of them in fact – but forming my questions and concerns into actual words that are fit for public consumption has been too daunting a task for yours truly as of late. Why? I can’t quite put my finger on the issue honestly. Whether this is some variation of writer’s block, general disinterest with the product itself, or too many real life distractions blocking my creative juices from flowing, I’ve been at the keyboard struggling somethin’ fierce. So your boy SkitZ decided to just start throwing shit at the virtual wall of his MacBook until something intelligible stuck. Below is what I managed to scrape together for now.
…Dear Chad GPT, will the real El Grande Americano please unmask?
Ludwig has taken to the luchador gimmick ridiculously well; better than any of us could’ve imagined beforehand. We all assumed the biggest ‘W’ of Kaiser’s career would be bagging Tiffany Stratton, but over the past year, he’s done more for AAA than its reigning Mega Champion (these disappointing title reigns are starting to become a trend for Dirty Dom). While WWE could’ve easily formed another European stable that allowed Ludwig, Pete Dunn & Tyler Bate to do their thing without cosplaying as luchadors, the company has stumbled upon something promising with the trio. Hence why I’d keep rolling with them and have Kaiser effectively replace the original El Grande Americano this Monday on RAW.
Chad Gable feels stuck in a goofy role right now much like Cody Rhodes did a decade ago with Stardust. I get it. Hunter’s crew came to the conclusion that the former Olympian had hit his ceiling as a performer and they needed to pivot. Gable doesn’t possess a million dollar look and charisma in their eyes, so why not put a mask on him? Chad isn’t nearly a big enough star to say “that doesn’t work for me brother” to any of his bosses, and thus the poor guy finds himself in another Shorty G situation. A commendable effort from Gable nevertheless that came with a decent push leading into WrestleMania 41, but he just comes off as the butt of an inside joke that never seems to end.
Wrong place, wrong time for Chad who was ripe for a change in direction right as WWE were preparing to purchase AAA and plug the promotion on their regular weekly programming. Gable served as the sacrificial lamb in some ways, so his rotator cuff injury last summer struck me as a blessing in disguise, because now Chad could just ditch the silly mask and return as his authentic self. Especially since Ludwig had taken the ball shackled to Gable in his absence and ran with it. Yet here we are, still dragging this stupid shit out all these months later. Chad was plenty capable of targeting the luchadors and successfully feuding with Penta and Rey Mysterio without ripping them off in the process. The whole thing just comes across so cringey and unnecessary. Hell, it would’ve made more sense for Sami Zayn to revert back to his El Generico shtick than to saddle Kurt Angle’s little bro with the gimmick.
Speaking of rolling with the L’s, the current thorn in Cody’s side known as Sami is putting up more of a fight backstage these days than dire McIntyre. Jesus Christ, has the company shafted Drew at every turn along this pothole plagued road to WrestleMania. The brief WWE Champion was firing on all cylinders there for a while, but much like his boss, Drew has been slightly off his game since 2024. McIntyre’s done so many jobs over the past 12 months that his big World Title victory in Berlin, Germany carried about as much weight as the first time Dolph Ziggler won it. You could make an argument that Drew’s five minute reign at WMXL was more impactful and beneficial than the one Rhodes abruptly ended last week.
I’m jumping on the bandwagon, but it bears repeating. Had the company not pussyfooted around and just switched the belt to McIntyre at Wrestlepalooza, all this inconsistent storytelling since late January could’ve been avoided. Drew catches a rusty Cody by surprise after returning from filming a movie for five weeks, becomes WWE Champion and enjoys a 4-month title reign before dropping the gold back to Rhodes in the Three Stages of Hell match. Then one final showdown between them at the Rumble inside HIAC to definitively finish the feud. Literally so easy to book, yet Creative missed the mark time and time again.
Drew would’ve received his flowers, but also been out of the picture long before WWE began setting up Cody and Randy for WrestleMania. Instead, look at what happened… McIntyre went from presumably main eventing the PLE in a triple threat or fatal four-way, to a significantly diminished spot on the card that’s eerily similar to the one Drew found himself in at WM41. Only now, McIntyre’s likely to lose this WrestleMania grudge match against Jacob Fatu. A great stepping stone for the Samoan Werewolf no doubt, but WOOF. Drew’s credibility is cooked at this point. WWE handled his title run about as well as they did Jey Uso’s.
It simply doesn’t compute in my mind. McIntyre has an intimidating presence. He should be booked as a remorseless assassin, not a lumbering bitch who’s gotta sneak attack every person he beefs with. Drew leaving after Mania to shoot the Highlander reboot is honestly for the best because he needs to disappear for a while and resurface with a different approach. Hunter loves to remind us often that all roads run through Cody, and unless you’re an untouchable like Cena or Orton, prepare to be speedbumped by QB1.
I’m so tired of all these “I respect you and let the best man or woman win” promos (i.e. Rhea and everybody she feuds with). Randy snapping on his boy Friday night was the shot of adrenaline that this hype for WrestleMania was sorely lacking. Thanks to one bloody beatdown and a longggg overdue heel turn, WWE has finally added a splash of color to this blah ass paint-by-numbers build. I recently rewatched their first WrestleMania encounter – the one that included “The Million Dollar Fraud” Ted Dibiase, Jr. – and it’s wild how much has changed over the past fifteen years and change, especially since Rhodes left in ‘16 to carve out his own legacy. This mentor/mentee rivalry has been years in the making, and it’s certainly felt like ages given how long the company’s dangled the payoff in front of our faces.
I figured the betrayal by Orton might not happen until Night 1 in Vegas, so the chaotic contract signing that closed SmackDown has me second guessing the endgame a smidge. Does anyone really expect Cody to drop the WWE Championship just six weeks after reclaiming it? The odds of Randy punting Rhodes off the throne in the same manner that Cena did last year seems about as far-fetched as Road Dogg coming up with good ideas. I can’t see the company’s top babyface losing two consecutive WrestleMania main events. Maybe The Legend Killer chases for a few months before winning #15 at SummerSlam? I would’ve personally turned Cody heel instead of Orton. No matter how vile and vicious The Viper behaves moving forward, the crowd isn’t gonna boo Randy because he’s goated, so why not take things in the other direction? Meh, all I know is Orton better become WWE Champion at some point during this program with Rhodes… otherwise Hunter is practically begging to ignite that inevitable Cody fan revolt.
At least wrestling fans are still invested in Rhodes, which is more than I can say for Rusev. Rumors suggested that the Bulgarian Brute returned to WWE because he wanted to wrestle more and didn’t feel like a priority in AEW, but has anything really changed in that regard? Because I can count on two hands how many matches Rusev has worked since showing up on RAW last April. Then I read these bullshit reports about how Triple H’s people are intentionally leaving certain talent off TV for indefinite periods so they’re fresh when the company’s ready to use them again. Fresh? I think they mean stale or shelved because Creative has nothing for them. Let’s call it what it is and not beat around the bush.
Trying to plug Rusev back in like it’s 2014 and he never left was poor planning on management’s part. I realize there were hopes of him serving as a top heel on RAW, but what are the all-time greats always yapping about in terms of making it in pro wrestling? A guy’s gotta be himself out there, with the volume turned way up. If you’ve ever watched clips of Miro outside the ring or on podcasts, he’s a big silly dude. Hence why the Rusev Day gimmick got over as well as it did, because that’s the closest he’s come thus far to showing some relatable qualities on WWE programming.
They have no Earthly idea on what to do with Rusev at the moment. He lost in the opening round of the John Cena Invitational, vanished for over two months before resurfacing at the Royal Rumble just to be eliminated in 32 seconds, to randomly wearing a Rusev Day shirt backstage once or twice, to getting squashed by Oba Femi. Don’t be surprised when Brock is squashing him next and Miro’s sitting in catering come WrestleMania. WWE should’ve brought Rusev back into the fold as a fun-loving babyface, and leaned more into the Big E side of his personality. Crowds would’ve connected to that much more, as well as him returning with Lana. Rusev is the type of character who needs a sidekick like Aiden English or a piece of eye candy like his wife to play off. Otherwise, it’s always gonna be a struggle for him to remain relevant; let alone be treated as a focal point by the company. Fans simply don’t give a fuck, so give them a reason to care. Why is that type of ask such a tall task these days?
Much of the same can be said about Aleister Black and his side piece. When he and Zelina approached Sami backstage on SmackDown, I was immediately struck with deja vu from what was playing out onscreen a year ago. Aleister recently described his first year back in WWE as a “massive success” which, I’m sorry, is hyperbole at its finest. The man has certainly wrestled on TV more, but overall, Black and Zelina have been booked what – maybe a wee bit stronger than Karrion and Scarlett were? Which isn’t saying much I’m afraid. Triple H opted instead for Aleister, ala his original NXT pet project, which is totally understandable. I believe Hunter made up his mind on fading out Kross in favor of Black after that whole shoot promo incident that went down during WrestleMania weekend. But to pretend like WWE didn’t replace Karrion and Scarlett with what they believe to be a better (and more compliant) version of the duo is pure and utter delusion.
Unless Sami’s slow descent into madness results in a WrestleMania showdown with Aleister, I doubt Black even makes the card. It’s supposedly a 14-match event, and yet the list of guys and gals sitting out WM42 continues to grow.
Some folks will condemn me for saying this, but there’s the bizarro side of SkitZ who yearns to see Danhausen and The Demon join forces at Mania. Rather than running a plain old singles bout with no title up for grabs, why not go with Balor & Danhausen versus Dom & JD? I don’t wanna hear shit about suspending disbelief either. If Finn can fight an iguana themed hand puppet, then he can team with a demonic Santino. Book it dammit!
Approximately one year ago, the Street Profits captured the WWE Tag Team Titles en route to sparking a renaissance within the division on SmackDown. Then roughly six months later, they flew off a cliff with a handful of other tag teams and died a miserable death. Meanwhile, The MFT’s and Wyatt Sicks are still holding the belts hostage and playing WarGames like the PLE didn’t pass them by four months ago.
Triple H literally put the last year of Lyra and Bayley’s careers on pause to correct the mistake he made at WrestleMania 41. And instead of taking a new approach by scheduling Bayley versus AJ Lee for Vegas, we’re bound to watch the IC Champ run it back with Becky while Lyra remains tethered to the tag division. Despite the fact that Valkyria should’ve been competing for the Women’s World Title this entire time!
How crazy is it that we went from thinking Kiana was holding Giulia back to James nearly leaving her client behind over the past couple months? Giulia might as well be carrying Kiana’s purse at this stage. I’d book them in a triple threat for Mania along with Tiffany, throw the U.S. Title on James, and let it ride.
Penta doesn’t need Fenix to thrive, but the latter sure as hell needs his brother to climb the ranks in WWE. If the Lucha Bros don’t reunite soon, Rey’s gonna get shipped to AAA on a one-way ticket with no return date attached.
Isn’t it ironic that out of all these new guys the company is pushing – Oba, Trick, Je’Von, etc. – the reigning United States Champion is the least likely to land a match at WM42? The Dragunov vortex hasn’t been kind to Carmelo Hayes here in 2026.
And for the love of God, please don’t start treating Jelly Roll like he’s the second coming of Logan Paul. Kudos to the dude for losing all that weight and being such an impassioned wrestling fan, but I have little interest in watching his saggy ass stumble around the ring every April and August.
…Sheesh. This column was nearly as negatively charged as the last one, wasn’t it? I’m working through it; piece by piece. Bear with me, folks. Maybe it’s time to have an indepth conversation with myself and see if that rinses all the bad thoughts out of this unstable brain of mine.