Its also now the first time that Paul Levesque is going to be able to mold everything in his image without Vince coming back. That means its his baby and he can’t blame anyone else if it fails.

While things will shape up on RAW, NXT and Smackdown with the WWE Draft, here are the questions that the WWE has to answer going forward.

Who does Cody feud with for the next 6-8 months?

The best thing about The Bloodline was it allowed Roman Reigns to shine and for WWE to kick things into the next gear. It was great storytelling by all and Paul Heyman and Paul Levesque did a phenomenal job in turning Roman’s failed babyface run into a mega monster heel run.

The bad part was everything else at times has either been wasted or has become stale from wrestlers to feuds. Roman beat every challenger, the secondary heels got moved to RAW and nobody else really became over. Even Judgement Day suffered as too often they were portrayed as lesser threats and often lost feuds with babyfaces

While the short answer for Cody is Gunther, you can bet WWE officials want to wait until Bash in Berlin. Would be a great way to revitalize the European market, give Gunther a huge win near his home country, and develop a new star draw. Just look at TKO and see how they have invested in overseas fighters and overseas event for proof that the company has global visions of domination.

But for now WWE has to find feuds to keep Cody busy until that happens and its a tough choice as there isn’t a real choice of prime heel opponents. AJ Styles is getting the nod for now at Backlash but its basically a safe and last man standing of the rest of the choices. Solo Sikola is beginning his quest for Bloodline domination and all signs point to WWE wanting to avoid having him losing to Cody quickly.

Meanwhile the rest of the heels on the roster feel too much like a step down for a World Title feud. Karrion Kross just lost his feud to Bobby Lashley and has yet to connect with the crowd. The same goes for Santos Escobar who has the look and the skill but the crowd has a mid to tepid reaction to him.

Even the possible “Summer of Punk” is on hold as it will take between 4 to 6 months for Punk to heal and be back in shape. Rollins also needs time to recover as he has been working through knee and back surgeries.

In short, its going to be tricky to not just find someone to feud with Cody but someone who feels worthy of it.

Does WWE pivot and have Bobby Lashley go after Cody? Do they risk putting a champion vs. Champion feud with Cody vs. Logan Paul? Or do they go with a surprise option before they pull the trigger on Rock vs. Cody at SummerSlam?

Either way they have to be cautious or else wrestling fans might turn on Cody like they usually do.

What is in the future for Rhea Ripley?

While Rhea has become not just the face of Judgement Day and a legit star, the downside is simple

She has cleaned out the Raw Women’s division before an arm injury took away her title.

She beat Becky Lynch at WrestleMania, conquered Nia Jaxx at Elimination Chamber, and beat everyone on the RAW roster.

Its vital to keep her active as the longer she is just a manager/mascot/valet for Judgement Day, the more it takes away from the Raw Women’s title.

In a perfect world, WWE would turn Rhea Ripley face and have her feud with Damage Ctrl, a heel Bianca Belair or even Tiffany Stratton. But with Judgement Day feeling blah outside of Dominik and Rhea, its doubtful that WWE will tear her away from the group.

In alot of ways the is the problem they had with Bianca Belair in that her title run became stale. With Rhea, the challenge going forward to to not just find her credible contenders but find a way to make her title run feel more relevant.

For now the injury hiatus kicks that can down the road but once she comes back they are going to face the issue. Either Judgement Day suffers or the Women’s Division continues to go down due to the Women’s Title feeling secondary.

What to do with the NXT new class of Bron Breakker, Tiffany Stratton and the Creed Brothers?

At this point we can all agree that the NXT Black and Gold final class has been pretty dismal returns. DIY has been wrestling to zero reaction, fans have tuned out Karrion Kross no matter what he comes out with, Io Skye was good but not great and JD Devlin feels just… there.

Its a warning to WWE and fans that sometimes you can’t keep acts in NXT too long or they go stale. It also is a warning that if you like the young kids, you must push them quickly so they can get over with the crowd.

The Creed’s have everything you can ask for in a WWE superstar when it comes to the in ring package. They are big, fast, fluid and can wrestle any style that you ask of them from the high flying to huge suplex and power slams.

The worst part of their development has been losing to Judgement Day for the titles and then just… fading into the background. Infact even all of their title eliminator matches have ended either with them loosing or being out of the pinfall. Its caused fans to lose interest in them due to being perceived as a bit player.

The hope now is that the Creeds will be packaged with a heel Chad Gable and allowed to be what Team Angle was. A trio of wrestling machines who used their superior wrestling skills and pedigree to get over. All three men are highly decorated amateur wrestlers who have not had the chance to showcase their top potential.

With Tiffany Stratton, she has immediately gotten a nice push and after her recent events on Smackdown, solidified herself as a star. She is a charismatic woman with incredible athleticism, knows how to sell and deliver the action and has movie star looks.

The only concern now is a stacked Smackdown roster that could easily see her get pushed aside. With Bayley, Damage Control, Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill and a returning Charlotte Flair, its easy to see Stratton get lost in the shuffle.

With the draft coming up, the best thing might be to move Stratton to Raw where she would have more of a chance to be a featured player. Unlike most NXT women in the past, she has everything that you want in a performer and looks the part of a star.

Meanwhile its time for WWE to pull the trigger on Bron Breakker and go full throttle with his push. The former NXT champion is something that is lacking in pro wrestling; a freak athlete who gets the industry and looks like a mega star.

Watching Breakker in action and you can see that he is that unique blend of size and power. He runs the ropes like a man half his size and unlike most in AEW and WWE, he has the physique of a superhero character. Right now on Smackdown he has been showcased in 2-3 minute squash matches that are designed to showcase his strengths.

Now the challenge will be to put him in a feud and actually push him as a bad ass character. If there is one criticism of Paul Levesque its been that alot of younger talent gets lost on the roster. Look no further than Dominik Mysterio and Austin Theory who have had their moments in the spotlight.

Both though are the victims of a numbers game where more established star talent go over them in feuds. Dominik might be one of the most over wrestlers in the company but often is the guy who eats pins for Judgement Day.

Meanwhile Theory went from being the United States champion to another comedy character who until recently was getting abused by every babyface wrestler he took on.

With an aging and beat up main event roster, Breakker needs to get the opposite treatment of the other two. Have him get a fast push that might lead to either the United States Title or the Intercontinental Title within the next 6-8 months. If he is your future star, its time to start pulling the trigger.

The R-Truth problem that has become bigger than we imagined. For a long time, R-Truth’s comedy act was entertaining and harmless for the majority of the roster. Between the Little Jimmy gimmick to hunting for the 24/7 title to his various disguises, Truth was perfect for what he was; a comedy wrestler.

Yeah he was sometimes over the top and the 24/7 title at times was something that made everyone groan.

But it wasn’t harming any other acts and he was sort of in his own universe within the WWE universe.

But within the last six months, R-Truth has become entangled with the Judgement Day and he and The Miz eventually became WWE Raw Tag Team Champions. Worse though is that Truth’s shenanigans made the Damian Priest led stable to come across as complete morons.

It would be like Darth Vader losing a battle to Jar Jar Binks or Lex Luthor getting beaten by Plastic-Man. The big scary evil force loses not because the hero is that good but rather the villain turns into an idiot.

Imagine if Superman defeated Brainiac because the evil space machine slipped on a banana peel. That is what has happened with R-Truth and the Judgement Day’s fall because of this feud.

The argument for R-Truth is that he entertains and that he is over with the crowd, which is true. But like comedy characters in the past (Doink the Clown, Santino Marella, etc) were often kept far away from the Main Event scene or from top acts. Even Vince realized that you cannot have Stone Cold Steve Austin looking stupid against Eugene.

Watching Damian Priest and Judgement Day struggle to beat or even deal with Truth was painful. It made them look completely stupid and incompetent in dealing with Truth’s delusion of being part of the group. And the fact that everyone else just accepts Truth’s “clueless” antics and gets engulfed in them, makes all parties look as clueless as him.

At this point it might be time to either tweak R-Truth’s character or just keep him in the mid-card away from promising acts. The less he is around serious and rising names, the better it is for all parties.

I am not asking for the 24/7 title to be brought back to existence but just keep Truth far away from any top acts as he brings everything down to the stupid level.

To listen to more Fighters/Boxers/Sports Reporters interviews and more check out www.lastcallpodcast.com or follow me on www.x.com/LastCallwChrisC.

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Its got to end and while what I am suggesting might be “not good” according the IWC and other pro wrestling media/fans, its time.

Rhea Ripley leaves Judgement Day and goes back to wrestling in the women’s division.

Its been now Eight months into this year and Rhea Ripley has wrestled a grand total of seventeen times. That is counting the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, other PLE’s, RAW and Smackdown. And of those seventeen times, five of them were either the Royal Rumble or six men tag/ Tag Team matches.

And don’t get me started with her title reign which is quickly becoming a “who cares” segment that has many people going for the snack lines. That is what you get when you have a champion win squash matches with no build and a feeling of just “we can watch it on YouTube.”

Critics right now are saying that she is “more over” now that she is on Judgement Day and that she is becoming a bigger star. That she is the heir apparent to (hopefully) eventual Hall of Fame inductee Chyna.

I am calling foul right now, quicker than a corrupt NBA official.

Lets first stop with the Chyna comparison’s right now. For starters it was a different era where you could still curse, slap and insult female heels. That ended though within the last few years due to society frowning upon it, “The Me Too” phenomenon, “Time’s Up” movement and WWE going PG.

In short, there is ZERO chance that Endeavor is going to allow, especially with a new TV deal on the horizon. Expecting Rhea to get her hers from Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn or any other male wrestler is wishful thinking.

As far as “Rhea is a star due to Judgement Day”, she already was a big deal before with wins in past WrestleMania’s for the Raw Women’s title and Tag Team titles. If anything, she helped give Judgement Day more credibility in star rating. But with her role now in Judgement Day being a bit more than eye candy/manager, it often feels like she is wasted.

All of this is going on, the women’s division on RAW is feeling more like a bathroom break than must see TV.

Trish Stratus vs. Becky Lynch has been miscast and continues rolling on like a bad joke that nobody caught on. Raquel Rodriguez and Shayna Baszler are often left in limbo, and nobody takes the women’s tag team titles seriously.

Hell at this point just kill the women’s tag team titles as they are a cursed entity.

Right now, there are tons of feuds for Rhea to engage in that would get fans interested. A rekindled Shayna-Rhea feud with the roles being reversed would be money. They tore up NXT with their hard hitting and intense feud and the two women work well with each other. Or Rhea vs. Piper Niven in a feud where Rhea would be the one who is the “smaller” wrestler and Niven could be the monster who wants to wreck her.

Hell give me Trish Stratus vs Rhea in a generational battle that fans would want to see. Trish the babyface standing up to Rhea while Rhea can show off her mind games, reminding Trish that she never had to bark like a dog.

All of those could be ways to make the division more interesting, make Rhea a bigger name until they go with the dream scenario of Rhea vs. Raquel (Who needs more buildup) … or Rhea vs. Becky Lynch in battle of the badass women.

Meanwhile you could allow Judgement Day to go full heel and allow other wrestlers to take roles. Turn Damian Priest face, which has been teased endlessly but has not been pulled due to reasons. You can even bring up either new NXT guys who could use the rub (JD McDonough and Dijak would be better fits) along with Balor and Dominik.

Either way it would be fresh and allow Rhea to be more than just a manager/eye candy which is what she is in Judgement Day. I understand people want her to be the next Chyna but that isn’t going to happen.

Chyna was a rare breed in that she was nearly twice the size of all the women on the roster and big and strong enough to look like she could handle herself with women. Rhea is three inches shorter and probably 30-40 lbs lighter than Chyan was.

Paul Levesque has consistently said that there is “no chance” of WWE doing any Intergender matches. File that away in the “bad idea” drawer for mainstream wrestling.

Its time for Rhea to go back to being a star wrestler who can have great feuds and banger matches.
And not dragged down by soap opera skits and standing around ringside.

She is better than that.

Check me out and listen to my interviews on www.lastcallpodcast.com and Twitter.com/LastCallWChrisC

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