No empty callbacks

Today’s newsletter is coming in a day late (and longer than usual, so I’d love your feedback if longer stories work for you!) because the heat has messed up with my sleep and I am experiencing a bit of writer’s block. It’s been a pretty rough week. Apologies, folks!

I’ve been a casual pro wrestling fan for a while. The only diary I kept as a child has an entry about me watching WCW and ECW on the TV and being really happy about it. I was lucky enough to be born when the WWE (then still called the WWF), WCW, and ECW were all operating. I was also old enough that watching wrestling was not a thing that parents wanted their kids to do, which of course made it was cool. I was in a co-ed school, so the boys my age were big Stone Cold Steve Austin fans or would do D-Generation X’s ‘suck it!’ gesture, frustrating a couple of teachers.

The first webpage I made myself in high school was dedicated to my favorite wrestlers. At this point in time, I was hooked, and wrestling was part of my media diet, along with watching the Lakers. I have memories of watching Smackdown on cable while we were getting ready to go to Sunday mass, Raw during the weekdays. I also watched Bottom Line and Afterburn, which were basically shows recapping Raw and Smackdown. I remember one of my classmates and friends (who was also a musical theater fan) fangirling over Randy Orton while also talking to me about Phantom of the Opera.

I was obsessed with Eddie Guerrero and Shawn Michaels. I was drawn to how flashy and skilled they were and to the impish ‘I’m gonna see what I’m gonna get away with’ energy that their in-ring personas had. Outside of the ring, their personal struggles and work towards redeeming themselves made them compelling people to watch.

I cried during Wrestlemania XX when Eddie defeated his greatest rival. I also cried when he passed away, a little over a year after that moment.

I let go of wrestling in my late teens because so many things were happening in my life at that time, and I had found new fandoms that had captured my attention. I would still watch a video or two, but I got back into it last year, when a friend of mine told me it was a good time to get back into it because of a long-running storyline that just keeps on getting better.

Enter The Bloodline.

There’s two movie-length recaps (the one you’ve just scrolled past and this one) just for this one storyline alone. But if you don’t want to watch that or go down the rabbit hole, I will share the gist of this story, which has been running for at least four years.

A quick intro to Roman and The Bloodline

Before becoming the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns (the Rock’s cousin) was the ‘brawn’ of a trio called SHIELD, and ends up getting betrayed by the SHIELD’s ‘brains’, Seth Rollins, with a steel chair to the back. He starts feuding with other top superstars like John Cena and the Undertaker and grows into a fearsome competitor.

He becomes champion.

Roman consolidates the two main titles in the WWE to become the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, with the help of his manager, the Wise Man Paul Heyman, and his cousins (as in actual cousins), The Usos, who eventually become Undisputed tag team champions. The Usos’ younger brother Solo Sikoa joins them at some point.

Along the way, they rack up enemies. He’s consolidating power and WWE gold a la Michael Corleone at the end of The Godfather Part I. Anyone who challenges him is squashed with the help of the rest of the Bloodline.

People try to stand up to him, but only two guys make a dent: Sami Zayn and Cody Rhodes.

Sami and Cody: Exposing the cracks in The Bloodline

Sami starts out as this Fredo-like guy who just wants respect and thinks Roman and the Bloodline is his way back to getting the respect he deserves from the fans and the locker room, but he eventually is asked to destroy his pal (and real-life friend) Kevin Owens to prove his loyalty.

Sami decides that’s the line and turns on Roman, and he challenges Roman for his titles. He is absolutely humiliated in his match vs. Roman in his own hometown in Montreal, but he wins over the fans’ respect (the one thing he really wanted), and Jey refuses to punish him when Roman asks him to,

He then wins Kevin over to his side and the two of them work together not just to regain their friendship, but also to take The Usos’ tag team titles.

Cody Rhodes starts in the WWE, leaves it, and then comes back to the WWE after co-starting his own wrestling promotion. Cody wants to win the only title his late father, wrestler Dusty Rhodes, was not able to win.

His goal is just to Finish the Story.

He feuds with the guy who betrayed Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, famously wrestling with a torn pectoral muscle. AND WINS.

He wins the Royal Rumble (which is a last man standing type of match where the prize is a title shot at WWE’s biggest event, Wrestlemania).

When he faces Roman, Roman is reeling from Sami’s betrayal and the Usos just losing their titles, so the Bloodline makes sure that Roman keeps his titles. Cody is cheated out of the win, having come so close. And then, salt to the wound, he’s denied a rematch, Roman telling him to go to the back of the line.

Over the next few months, Cody beats the guy Roman had to beat to get his consolidated titles. He feuds with another villanous group and prevails over them and wins a feud over another amazing superstar. He declares for the Royal Rumble, putting him at odds with returning superstar CM Punk (who was fired from his last promotion—the company Cody helped start—after putting his hands on another guy backstage) and wins it again, making him the first guy to win it back-to-back since Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Except there’s one more obstacle in his way.

Hollywood comes home: The Rock joins the fray

After Cody goes through his gauntlet—months of proving he’s the #1 challenger—WWE starts the year by having The Rock return on their very first show of the year, hinting that he’d challenge his cousin Roman for the titles, to figure out who truly is the head of their family.

Cody—again, already having worked the past year to maintain his #1 contender status, if not within the ring, at least in the mind of the fans—overcomes 29 other contenders and wins the Rumble. At the end of the 2024 Royal Rumble, he points to Roman, and there is no doubt who he wants to challenge.

Guess what happens after that? In the ring, Cody starts to question if going after Roman is the right move, and The Rock talks to him, whispers in his ear. The camera and the audience catch Cody’s eyes looking dead and disheartened, and not long after, it is clear that the audience is being sold a different match for the upcoming Wrestlemania.

That it’s not going to be Roman vs. Cody 2, but Rock vs. Roman.

Seth Rollins (who in the middle of all of this has won the World Heavyweight Championship and has built a reputation as the ‘working champion’) tries to sell Cody to fight him, telling him his title means more because he actually defends it weekly, instead of Roman who defends only during the big live events (which is part of his contract).

The fans don’t like this. The WWE fans who like Cody start organizing on social media to bring signs and get the hashtag #WeWantCody to trend. At the Wrestlemania 40 kickoff, Cody challenges Roman, who has chosen to fight The Rock, and he exchanges words with Roman and The Rock, which ends in The Rock slapping Cody and storming out.

Seth is around when this happens and he comes to Cody’s defense.

The Pivot and the Home Stretch

The WWE realizes not long after that the Rock vs. Roman match isn’t hitting the way it should. They’ve weaved a story too intricate and Cody’s journey is too compelling for the Rock to just waltz in and main event the whole thing.

Seth offers to be Cody’s shield. Even though he has a history of back injuries and is out of action for a while due to a knee issue, he makes that promise.

The Rock then positions himself as The Final Boss—his goal is to make Cody want to give up, because if he doesn’t, his troubles will never end.

The story eventually evolves to have Seth and Cody team up vs. Roman and the Rock for Night 1 of Wrestlemania, and if Cody loses, the next day it’s Bloodline rules—which basically means helping Roman is allowed.

Seth, who’s a champion in his own right, is being persuaded by his own challenger, Drew McIntyre, to stay out of Cody’s business and focus on his own title defense, knowing that he’d have to defend on Day 2, win or lose.

He doesn’t.

The Rock and Cody trade barbs, and at one point, he beats Cody outside of the stadium in the rain, blood on Cody’s face and all. He insults Cody, Cody’s mother, and Cody’s fans.

On Night 1 of Wrestlemania, Cody and Seth give it their all, but the Rock and Roman win. Which means Cody will be at a disadvantage.

On Night 2, Cody is met with the full force of the Bloodline, and as if we’re watching Avengers: Endgame, one by one, superstars come out to Cody’s aid. Jey Uso arrives to fend off his brother Jimmy. John Cena arrives when Solo Sikoa interferes to fight him off (and get revenge for his own loss to Solo). The Rock (who feuded with John Cena) comes out and gets the better of him. Then Seth appears. With a steel chair. But he gets taken out by Roman.

And then The Undertaker, whose last match happened during the pandemic, appears to take care of The Rock.

We’re left with no interference, just Cody and Roman in the ring.

But wait—there’s Seth.

The chair is out of his hands and Roman is in the ring with a steel chair and two choices: Hit Cody, retain, and finally put this challenger to bed, or hit Seth, and finally get revenge for that moment years ago.

Roman chooses to get revenge and hit Seth, which gives Cody the opening to hit his finishing move on Roman and win the title.

I was struck dumb while watching from my laptop. The stadium just pops off.

And wherever people were watching from, from the stadium to the bar to right in their own home, they were cheering.

This has been such an emotional story that even the people within WWE couldn’t contain their emotions. Commentator Michael Cole calls the match by saying “Finish. The. Story.” in place of the usual “1, 2, 3” count and then shares a hug with Cody (a full circle moment considering Cole was already in the WWE when Cody was a young wrestler and his dad Dusty Rhodes was still alive). Announcer Samantha Irvin made this emotional announcement proclaiming Cody the new champion, winning over a lot of fans.

Cody Rhodes’ friend and former teammate in Legacy, Randy Orton, and the other MVP of this Bloodline storyline, Sami Zayn, hoist him up on their shoulders as the crowd continues to cheer. Cody presents the one title that eluded his father to his mom.

It is one of the most emotional moments I’ve seen as a wrestling fan.

Watching it happen, seeing people react to social media—it reminds me that even when the media and entertainment industry is fragmented and the different algorithms shuffle us into bubbles, these collective experiences still exist and they make waves.

My favorite thing post-Wrestlemania was seeing a woman post on Tiktok talking about how happy she was to see all of the WWE videos. She was asking what made people so happy about watching Wrestlemania, and people were explaining to her in the comments why this one was so special. That’s the energy of fandom, not exclusionary, but always willing to welcome people with even a shred of curiosity.

To be honest, the WWE could have stuck to their plans. I think there were enough people who would’ve been curious enough about the Roman vs. The Rock match. It could have been a passing of the baton situation that would have paralleled the Rock’s own match with Hulk Hogan over two decades ago.

But the fans clearly connected with Cody’s underdog story and they ended up getting a great story out of it—great because it was well-performed and well-paced, great because it honored the beats, the steps, the trials and tribulations that came before, great because the people who got involved (especially during Cody’s match) aren’t there for cutesy cameos, but because they have real connections to the story and/or the main characters, and great because it gave the audience the relief they needed. (The good guy wins!)

And because they chose this direction, there will be kids out there whose first memories will be seeing Cody Rhodes defeat Roman Reigns. There will be fans who came back for this chapter tuning in to see what’s next (and I’ll be one of them). And there will be fans who have been there since the start of Roman’s wrestling career in the WWE and since the start of this storyline who are cheering the company’s commitment to long-term storytelling and to a good payoff. We’re back to being eight waiting to see what our hero will do next.

I don’t think the entertainment industry should put so much focus on reboots and remakes, but if you are going to call on nostalgia, your best shot is to take your craft and create stories that evoke that feeling, not just recreate it piece by piece.

That’s how you do it.

To borrow a line from Michael Cole’s Wrestlemania commentary, “Damn it, I love professional wrestling.”

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Thank you folks, and have a good weekend! fan/work will be back to its usual schedule next week. 😁