#WeWantCody = We Want Change

Year ago there was a major fight being talked about between at the time between Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez. Despite the public wanting it, promoter Bob Arum famously said he wanted to wait and “let it marinate.”

That is what The Rock and the WWE are doing right now with Cody vs. Roman, I can tell you that it should not be done. Marinating is stupid and most of the time it ruins the whole thing just like it is now.

That is why #WeWantCody needs to move forward and start jump starting a new wave in WWE. Because what even Rock fans do not realize is that the Roman vs. Cody and “finish the story” has a lot more importance than just Cody.

Let me start off with, I loved the Bloodline storyline in the beginning as it finally let Roman Reigns become what he is more comfortable as. A vicious, vindictive, calculating, and methodical villain who runs roughshod over people. It gave the Usos an extra level and allowed them to become the dominant tag team of the last ten years. It even gave Paul Heyman new life as he took his act in a more understated by sneaky level also.

I even agree with Mr. Tito and with Duke Loves Rasslin that it was up there at one point with the Four Horseman and NWO. The storyline was pure genius, and it made the WWE better. It created babyfaces out of Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Sheamus and Drew McIntyre. But ever since Cody was booked to fail to finish the story, the Bloodline has become as stale as three-week-old bread.

I argued in the past (The Truth: Cody Rhodes should have won at WWE WrestleMania 39 – NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage) that Cody should have finished the storyline because it was time to move forward. Since then, everything that has happened has made WWE programming a bit stale. The Usos turned on Roman, Jimmy then turned-on Jey for reasons that made zero sense, Jey moved over to Smackdown and Jimmy has become an afterthought.

I even despised this year’s Royal Rumble because you could see the ending coming a mile away. Cody once again entered and won except, hold the phone… The Rock came back and had Cody hand him the title shot.

Basically nothing changed except Roman extended his title reign, Rock is back to do his “dream match” and Cody continues to look like a boob.

Worst part is instead of Vince McMahon being the bad guy and taking power away from Triple H… It is The Rock. Dwayne Johnson is the new evil empire that has come back, took a big bag of cash, and now has installed Brian Gerwitz into creative. And all it is doing is taking us back down to nostalgia lane and stunting a youth movement that NEEDS to happen.

Here is a sobering fact; the last time the WWE had any under talent in the main title picture was in 2014 when the Shield were around. Since then, the company has been using the same talent repeatedly with the occasional part timers such as Brock Lesnar or Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Last WrestleMania 39 (the first without Vince McMahon in power) featured only three male wrestlers under 30 on the entire card; Austin Theory, Omos and Dominik Mysterio. Since then, Omos has disappeared from TV for the most part, Theory is being jobbed out with zero reaction while Mysterio is minor player in Judgement Day with no real direction.

Right now, WWE is in a hot phase with their new TV deals with Netflix, USA Network and CW. Attendance numbers are off the roof and overall business is booming.

But instead of trying to move on and create new stars, the answer is a dream matches well past its sell point.

The problem now is that the people who are running WWE are not wrestling people anymore. Fans got what they wanted, and Vince McMahon is gone for good and never coming back. But instead, we have a board of executives who are all about the immediate profit and short-term goals.

I get Mr. Tito’s argument about Cody but if that is the case then why bother creating any star? Under the Tito logic, just stick what you already have and kick the can down the road. That logic has led us to a roster that is full of guys who are over the age of 38, nursing nagging injuries and nearing the end of their careers.

Plus, what Tito and crew don’t tell you is that there is a good chance that Rock is going over Roman at WrestleMania. He did over John Cena at WrestleMania 26 with the caveat that he would do a rematch the following year. Alot of sources fear that the plan in Rock’s mind is that Rock goes over Roman and the rematch happens in Saudi Arabia.

If you don’t think that happens, then you haven’t paid attention to TKO Sports and Dwayne Johnson. They are all about maximizing profit in any venue possible as well as work outside the wrestling bubble. They view WWE as a part of their portfolio rather than something that is close to them.

Meanwhile at what point does a lot of the talent end up hanging it up for good? Alot of these guys (Zayn, Owens, Rollins, Styles, Sheamus, Orton, Lashley etc.) are over 38 or even over 40. And while they are in fantastic shape, their bodies have broken down at times from the wear and tear.

I can hear naysayers say that wrestlers can go longer than guys back in the day. But as we have seen with Randy, no matter how in shape you are, you get hurt in pro wrestling. It’s part of the job and for a lot of the current roster, the wear and tear on their body has made them riper for injuries.

It leads me back to people telling me “Trust the process and Levesque.” I would if I thought he was in charge of this but already reports are that this was made above his head. This was a Dwayne, Ari and Mark Shapiro call rather than Levesque and creative. Brian Gerwitz is back writing the scripts and story for this match and other Rock creative process.

We haven’t even gotten to the part that Rock probably might win this match so they can do part 2 in Saudi Arabia. Hell, he could do the rematch next year at WrestleMania 41 for all we know. It’s not Levesque’s call anymore but TKO and the Rock.

Bottom line is that for me and other people this is once again about all the things we hated for the last 15 years of the WWE coming true again. Part timers are in charge and stunting the youth movement all for the sake of big paydays for one shot deals. We haven’t seen any under 30 talents pushed consistently since The Shield and at some point, it will catch up.

Its why #WeWantCody has to eventually be heard and hopefully replaces Rock vs. Roman. Because for any sports company to succeed they can’t keep relying on nostalgia acts.

The future is now… and it starts with “Finishing the story”.

You can check out more interviews with athletes and sports reporters on www.lastcallpodcast.com or follow me on Twitter.com/LastCallwChrisC