Comic Book Clique

Cody Rhodes Appears on MMA Hour w/Ariel Helwani

Jonathan EscuderoComment

  • Cody Rhodes says he found out that he’d be losing at WrestleMania 39 right in the ring, in the moment that Roman Reigns hit the spear & the 1,2,3 hit.

  • Cody Rhodes says "The Final Boss" reminds him of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan

  • Cody Rhodes says he hates the term “finish the story” now because he didn’t finish it the first time he was saying it, and now its became a thing where everyone’s saying it and got a story.Cody Rhodes says that Dusty Rhodes never spoke a lot about not winning the WWE Title, but Dusty did talk a lot about his matches with Superstar Billy Graham at MSG.

  • Cody Rhodes says for Wrestling to truly have more than one royal family, he must defeat Roman Reigns at WrestleMania

  • When asked about Vince McMahon, Cody Rhodes says it’s important that when somebody is accused of something, that people don’t shame the accuser. He says he likes to just see how it plays out in the eyes of the law.

  • Cody Rhodes when asked if Vince McMahon is still involved with WWE, says he has only dealt with Triple H & Nick Khan for a long while now.

  • Cody Rhodes says that Nick Khan and Triple H told him about CM Punk’s WWE Return and wanted his opinion on it.

  • Cody Rhodes talks about conceding the main event to The Rock on SmackDown.

"After I had conceded the main event to The Rock. I still thought, ‘I’m going to find my way there.’ I still thought that. It’s one of the reasons I stayed dead silent. I didn’t want to put an opinion on it. I don’t want to get into the backstage details. What was out there is what was out there. I just felt like I was still going to make it. Then, thankfully, literally millions of people made it so that I did get back."

  • Ariel Helwani asked Cody Rhodes about the length of his new deal with WWE, then the topic of how much was brought up.

  • Rhodes wouldn’t disclose a figure or the length but does allude to a pay similar to LeBron James.

  • “I love Matt, Nick and Kenny. And I love CM Punk. I don’t know how, but I do.”

  • Cody Rhodes was asked if he considered going back to AEW before re-signing with WWE.

"No. No, it’s not in any way a negative towards them, it just, I know I didn’t win the title at WrestleMania 39, but I was in the spot I always dreamed of, and I know how lucky I am to be in this spot. When I see a poster and there I am front and center amongst other unbelievably talented people. When I see the 2K24 cover. When I see the responsibility. They didn’t hand me the exact ball and say, ‘You’re the quarterback,’ but they, Nick and Hunter, certainly gave me a lot of responsibility. I feel it would have been against my being because I was slotted there, you helped put me there, and now I’m making something of it and growing it beyond what you thought it could be. I wanted to keep doing that for them. It just didn’t cross my mind. Not in a negative towards any other places. This is what I’ve enjoyed doing."

  • Cody Rhodes doesn’t agree with CM Punk that Tony Khan isn’t a boss.

  • "I do think you will see Brandi at WrestleMania. To me, that will mean a lot"

  • Cody Rhodes says he bought himself and Seth Rollins matching Rolex’s

  • Cody Rhodes on Triple H:

"He had no reason to take care of me, but he's been an incredible guide, an incredible mentor."

  • "This is a fan created WrestleMania    this wasn't always the case. So I owe it to the fans to finish the story."

Cody Rhodes: 'Final Boss' Rock Feels Very 'Hollywood' Hulk Hogan

Jonathan EscuderoComment

Speaking on First Take, Cody was asked about The Rock's return

"I think it's different than everyone anticipated. The Rock is a Mount Rushmore pro wrestler-sports entertainer. If you ask anybody 'Who is your Mount Rushmore?' The Rock is on it. However, he came back, 'I'll just step into the main event with Roman Reigns, me and my cousin, do this family thing.' I was so blessed that the fans did not want that. They wanted me to finish the story at WrestleMania 40. Because of that, the byproduct is the Final Boss Rock. The Final Boss, the only comparison I can make, in terms of watching him from the outside looking in, feels very Hollywood Hulk Hogan. It's a whole other layer. I don't want to say all positive things about The Rock, but I can tell you, that's the staying power. You turn this and make it into something incredibly unique and very special,"

Tony Schiavone On CM Punk's Comments: I Really Don't Give A Sh*t, Let's Move On

Jonathan EscuderoComment

Speaking on the What Happened When podcast, co-host Conrad Thompson brought up Punk's comments and mentioned that he wanted to give Schiavone the chance to comment:

“Did he have a couple of stories about me? Jungle Boy, right? [Thompson notes that Punk brought Schiavone up but not in a negative way.]

You know what? I really don’t give a shit about it. I’m not gonna get into this. I know what he said, and let him continue to talk if he wants. That’s all I got. Look, okay, I don’t give a shit. That’s all I can say.

I can’t get into that. It would be stupid for me to get into that. I had no idea what he said, with the exception of someone told me, ‘Oh, he brought up your name, and here’s what he said.’ I went, ‘So what?’ So fucking what? [Thompson says Punk was not critical of him]

I know. That’s why I’m saying, ‘So what?’ If he was critical of me, people would say, ‘Oh, Schiavone on his podcast [wanted to] defend himself.’ I have nothing to defend. Let’s move on,"

WWE NXT Results 04-02-2024

Jonathan EscuderoComment

WWE NXT 04-02-2024

  • Good Brothers vs. The LWO vs. Axiom & Nathan Frazer; Winner goes to Stand and Deliver

Surprising result as it seemed the Good Brothers were going to Stand and Deliver.

Winner: Axiom & Nathan

Post-match, the new #1 contenders are interviewed.

Nathan says they haven’t slowed down since starting their team and now they’re headed to Stand & Deliver. Axiom says they’re gonna win on Saturday as the Wolf Dogs look down from the stands.

Lexis King says this is a brutal business and not everyone is cut out for it, and Mr. Stone knows that all too well now. It baffles him that Von Wagner wants another shot at him, but he can’t even take care of himself and that’s what Mr. Stone has been trying to do for him.

Ilja Dragunov is interviewed in the parking lot and says he’s on high alert when he discovers his car got booted.

Some D’Angelo Family goons roll up and say it’s a shame he didn’t pay his parking tickets and order him into the car, saying he doesn’t want to keep the Don waiting.

  • Fallon Henley vs. Jacy Jayne

Nothing match. No real meat here besides the post angle.

Winner: Jacy Jayne

The camera follows Jacy to Gorilla where she crows about her victory and tells Thea Hail she’d never lower herself to actually be friends with her and she only helped Chase U out to get the spotlight back and now she’s where she belongs.

Ava Raine gets up and tells her it’s live TV and time to move it along.

Thea Hail comes through yelling and Ava pops up and tells her she’s had enough and she’s booking a trios match between the two sides for Stand & Deliver.

  • Lexis King vs. Von Wagner

Lexis King finally back on TV and winning matches after a few weeks of floating after losing to Oba Femi. Good stuff.

Winner: Lexis King

Ava Raine reminds Carmelo Hayes of the importance of his match at Stand & Deliver and how there must be a winner and she’s going to bring extra security in tonight to make sure they all make it.

Natalya is giving Karmen Petrovic a pep talk backstage when Roxanne Perez interrupted to tell her she doesn’t need her or any of her other former idols anymore. Petrovic tells Nattie not to pay attention and then picks up her sword(?!) and leaves with her.

Arianna Grace is waiting for Georgina when Wren Sinclair shows up.

Grace has a selection of gowns for Gigi/Georgina to wear and is worried about how she’s going to come off but Wren says she already looks great and claims that pageants aren’t about conforming to arbitrary beauty standards.

Arianna blows up at her for suggesting that she wants to change Gigi and challenges her to a match.

  • Karmen Petrovic vs. Lola Vice

Pretty decent match with a hilarious shot after the finish of Lola Vice taunting while Petrovic and Natalya deal with the reality of loss.

Winner: Lola Vice

Ilja Dragunov gets driven to dinner by the D’Angelo Family. He gets out of the car and walks up to a garage door, which opens as he heads inside, past legbreakers holding crowbars and showing off their skills with a table saw in a pointed manner.

Another man works a nailgun, and finally he arrives at a table for two and the named members of the Family arrive and Tony D’Angelo takes a seat across from him as we cut away.

  • SUPERNOVA SESSIONS W/ ROXANNE AND LYRA

Noam Dar welcomes us to Supernova Sessions before reminding us that his group are hosting Stand & Deliver this year and then welcoming his guests tonight, Roxanne Perez and Lyra Valkyria.

Roxanne and Lyra take shots back and forth, Roxanne has a killer instinct she didn’t have before and Lyra takes issue with Perez not going after Tiffany Stratton or Becky Lynch for “her” title. A fight breaks out and Lyra slams her through a table and stands tall.

Donovan Dijak gets a hype reel where he talks about being the law around here.

Oba Femi is shown watching backstage and says at Stand & Deliver he’ll show Dijak and Josh Briggs both why he is North American Champion

We see Shawn Spears attacks Joe Gacy with a chair during his entrance but the Chainsaw wants to fight so here we go!

  • Joe Gacy vs. Oba Femi

The match comes to an awkward ending after the ref throws up an X. But an angle later on suggests this was part of the show. Which means this awkward ending could’ve been avoided?

Winner: Nobody

Lyra Valkyria has a talk with Tatum Paxley.

  • Arianna Grace vs. Wren Sinclair

Arianna Grace continues to display excellent character work. Wren Sinclair will be a feature face in this division.

Winner: Arianna Grace

We go back to the Ilja Dragunov / Tony D’Angelo sitdown.

Tony says Ilja’s parking issues have been taken care of and Dragunov says the depths Tony will go to get an advantage are impressive.

They go back and forth, Ilja says nothing will stop him from retaining the title, D’Angelo impresses on him the ease with which he could take him out here and now but no, he’s going to do it while the whole world is watching on Saturday.

  • Blair Davenport vs. Sol Ruca

    These are the two best female performers of the night, hands down.

Winner: Sol Ruca

Donovan Dijak and Josh Briggs run into each other backstage and talk about how they’re gonna win the North American Championship but Oba Femi is there to say that nuh-uh he’ll retain.

Ava Raine is excited about the Stand & Deliver card when Joe Gacy literally crawls to her desk to say he’s fine and he wants Shawn Spears on Saturday. She gives it to him.

Carmelo Hayes and his security entourage make their entrance.

Trick Williams also makes his entrance and gets on the mic.

Trick says it’s not supposed to be like this, Trick/Melo Gang was supposed to be strong.

But here they are, the first two Black Men to main event a WWE PLE on WrestleMania weekend.

As much as he’s supposed to be happy about that, he can’t because he’s going to war with a man he used to call his brother.

Hayes says put like that he has to admit that Trick came a long way from that dark match they had at SmackDown in Virginia, which Williams adds was his third match ever.

Trick says he was nervous but he had his brother at his side, and Melo says at one point it was them against the world, but now it’s them against each other.

Carmelo says Trick ruined everything for everybody and Williams says Hayes ruined it. Hayes says Trick taking the title was akin to stealing his girl.

Hayes says he WAS prepping Trick to take the main spot but it wasn’t his time.

He tells Trick directly that he was supposed to take a back seat during all this but Williams says he doesn’t take a back seat for anybody.

Melo says he used to be so humble and mockingly congratulates him on being hot for six months while Hayes has been hot for three years.

Melo says they love you on the rise, but when it’s the next guy’s turn, they’ll switch on you like Nintendo.

Trick says he knows Carmelo better than anybody and he sees that he’s envious and it’s written all over his face.

Melo asks what he’s supposed to be envious of and says he doesn’t care about the fans and Williams will learn the hard way why Melo is HIM.

Trick says he’s gonna whoop that ass and a brawl break out to close the show.

Paul Heyman Comments on All Elite Wrestling and ECW Influences

Jonathan EscuderoComment

While speaking to the Ringer about how Heyman has change professional wrestling, Paul mentions the influences AEW has taken from ECW:

“AEW is in and of itself RVD, because anyone who watches AEW can quickly conclude the AEW style is based on Rob Van Dam versus Jerry Lynn from 1998, 1999. And then you throw in all the different things that were obviously influenced by Taz, Sabu, the Sandman’s entrance, playing music while the action still goes on—let alone the fact that they continue to use the ‘lights out, lights on’ gimmick, which we debuted at the November to Remember 1995 when I brought back Sabu. The first financially viable opposition to WWE in many years employs styles that we either innovated or popularized during our run.”

Paul Heyman: the Ending of The Bloodline Story Has Been Rewritten Multiple Times.

Jonathan EscuderoComment

Paul Heyman tells the Ringer that the ending of The Bloodline story has been rewritten multiple times.

"I’m a huge proponent of writing the last page of the script first. It’s always to the advantage of long-term storytelling.

"I think I would suggest the ending of this story has already been rewritten multiple times because the world has changed since the inception of the Bloodline story. Therefore, what was a clear vision of how this should play out almost four years ago changed along the way based on not only the audience’s investment in the characters and the stories but the world itself—society itself, pop culture itself, sports culture itself has all changed, and now we can see the trajectory that we’ve been on takes us so much further than we ever initially imagined.”

WWE RAW Results 04-01-2024

WWE, WWE RAW ResultsJonathan EscuderoComment

WWE RAW Opens with a drone shot of the crowd entering Barclay’s from the Subway station

The Rock makes his way to the ring and shows clips of children crying while he beat down Cody Rhodes last week.

The Rock says this is what happens when people talk shit when they shouldn’t be talking shit. He introduces Roman Reigns

Roman comes out and says Cody was off in 2020 doing a whole lot of nothing. Then he saw what WWE was doing and wanted a piece of the action. But enough is enough. Cody is taking too much off the plate of the Tribal Cheif

Seth Rollins interrupts and challenges The Rock or Roman to a match TONIGHT!!

The Rock declines his offer and sends out Solo Sikoa

  • Judgement Day def. The New Day and DIY

Michael Cole mentions BOTH SETS OF TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS need to be pulled down for the Wrestlemania ladder match.

Judgement Day pulls out the win after a pretty good match. Johnny Gargano went head first into the announce table, at one point.

Roman Reigns confirms he will induct Paul Heyman into the Hall of Fame.

Chad Gable trains Sami Zayn too hard and pushes Sami to confess his fears. Sami is afraid to fail. Chad Gable understands and this is what he was always trying to make Sami understand.

Sami is at his best when people are doubting him. Chad Gable wants Sami Zayn to find that fire again.

USA pulled an April Fools Joke where RAW played in French for a second before it was revealed to be an ad for the Paris Games

  • Sami Zayn def. Bronson Reed by DQ after Gunther attacked him and Gable

Post-match, GUNTHER continues the beatdown, short-arm lariat, big overhand chops, blasting him with a big boot! He leaves Sami laying but Zayn fires up and gets back to his feet, shaking and staggered but defiant! GUNTHER BLASTS HIM WITH THE TITLE BELT!

Lil Wayne and WWE announced Wayne will perform his brand new single at WrestleMania in Philadelphia

  • Maxine Dupri and Ivy Nile def. Candice LeRae and Indy Hartwell

Candace berates Indy after the match for being pinned.

  • The full WWE Hall of Fame 2024 Class has been revealed.

Paul Heyman

Thunderbolt Patterson

Bull Nakano

Mike Rotunda & Barry Windham

Muhammad Ali

Lia Maivia

Jey Uso tells Seth Rollins he has his back. Rollins takes him up on the offer.

Drew McIntyre holds a funeral for CM Punk's Wrestlemania Dreams and Seth Rollins’ World Title run

  • Ricochet def. Ivar in an absolutely excellent match!

Judgement Day tells Andrade he can join them if he takes out Ricochet for them. Andrade shakes hands with Santos and Dom

  • Becky Lynch Promo

Becky Lynch hit the ring and calls out women's world champion Rhea Ripley, only to be interrupted by Adam Pearce and security.

Rhea comes out. Jukes the security and gets into a brawl with Becky.

  • Damage CTRL def. Tegan Nox, Zoey Starks and Shayna Baszler

WWE set to bring back Clash at the Castle on June 15th

Location to be announced tomorrow.

Seth Rollins is interviewed by Cathy Kelly about the Bloodline Rules match with Solo Sikoa

Rollins runs into Drew after who taunts Rollins for the task he has ahead. Rollins says he always has a Plan B.

Seth Rollins vs Solo Sikoa ends in a no contest after all hell breaks loose. Jimmy comes out, Jey follows him and brawls him to the back.

The Rock throws Jey back out into the arena and beats him until Cody shows up.

Cody takes it to the Rock before Roman Reigns appears to even the odds.

Roman and Rock beat down Rollins and Rhodes to close the show.

Wrestlemania XL Match Cards Revealed

WWEJonathan EscuderoComment

The cards for WrestlemaniaXL have been revealed.

NIGHT 1

• The Rock & Roman Reigns v Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins

• Rhea Ripley v Becky Lynch

• Jey Uso v Jimmy Uso

• Jade, Bianca, Naomi v Damage CTRL

• Six Pack Tag Title Ladder Match

• Gunther v Sami Zayn

• Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee v Dominik Mysterio & Santos Escobar

NIGHT 2:

• Roman Reigns v Cody Rhodes

• IYO SKY v Bayley

• Seth Rollins v Drew McIntyre

• Logan Paul v KO v Randy Orton

• LA Knight v AJ Styles

• The Pride v The Final Testament

CM Punk Appears on MMA Hour w/ Ariel Helwani

Jonathan EscuderoComment

CM Punk joined Ariel Helwani on his MMA Hour show to discuss his return to WWE.

Here are some highlights:

-Punk says he injured his tricep “not that far into” the Royal Rumble match

-Punk says he thinks the ball with his WWE return started really rolling the week of Thanksgiving.

He says he got a call from Nick Khan and the they initially asked about the Royal umble.

-CM Punk confirms he never had a non-compete when he was fired by AEW

-CM Punk says he and Triple H facetimed before his WWE return and they buried the hatchet and then talked business.

-CM Punk says Bayley invited him to go see the show when he visited RAW last May and he was just visiting friends.

He says people from AEW were mad he was there and the word “betrayed” was used.

Confirms Vince McMahon had him removed from the building.

-Punk says he signed his WWE Contract just before walking into Gorllia at Survivor Series

-Punk tells Helwani that as of the time there seemed to be references about him on WWE TV, he had not been contacted by WWE. He was wondering "should I be tanning?"

-Punk says he was in the same boat as everybody else in the weeks leading up to his WWE Return at Survivor Series, he didn’t know what was going on with all the subtle hints.

He says from his side of things, his wife, Nick Khan, Triple H & Lawyers knew beforehand, and he let his family know on the way to building.

-On the changes backstage now in WWE, CM Punk says somebody explained to him that “I’m super glad you’re back here so you can experience the culture backstage that you helped create because your were a catalyst for it, then you left and now you’re back”

-CM Punk confirms that he was supposed to wrestle Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40.

Punk believes it would have main evented night one.

-CM Punk said Tony Khan’s big idea was a separate show (Collision) and separate everybody

He says he said it would never work and to just release him, Tony refused.

-CM Punk says at an early Collision, Tony Schiavone came up to him and said Jack Perry was cussing him, Mike Mansury, Daryl from Production and cussing out the Doctor.

Punk said he asked why, but was skeptical because Perry wasn’t supposed to be there as Punk was told everyone was being seperated on Collision and Dynamite.

He says Schiavone begged him to come and say something, and saw that Jack Perry wanted to smash a rental car’s window with a lead pipe. He says he told Jack Perry politely “because he likes Jack” that “Mansury, Daryl, Schiavone and Doctors have told you no, and now I have to tell you no, and apparently you’ve cussed them all out, so I’m telling you no. We don’t do that here, if you wanna do this, go to Wednesday and do it.” Punk says Perry had no problem and said “I just thought it was a really cool idea”

He says he wasn’t trying to throw his weight around and thought it was a dumb idea.

-CM Punk calls it very irresponsible of the company (AEW) to leave talent stranded at the airport, referring to nobody picking him up in London for All In, leaving him to take the subway.

-CM Punk says when he arrived in London for AEW All In, there was nobody there to pick him up, but he got on the tube and thought it was an adventure and fun. But it was irresponsible of AEW to leave him stranded.

-CM Punk tells Ariel Helwani that at All In, he told Tony Khan, “This place is a f***** joke, man. You’re a clown. I quit.”

-Punk says he can’t speak about Brawl Out at all. But the company did not reach out to him for 6 months after the incident. Claims it was unprofessional.

-Punk says he came back to AEW because he felt Tony Khan wasnt going to let him go and he had friends there.

-Claims he wasn’t talking about the Young Bucks when he said “Counterfeit Bucks”

-CM Punk says AEW is not a real business. It's not about making money or selling tickets. He thinks it's about having good matches, maybe.

He says this is not a sustainable business for Television.

- CM Punk about AEW:

“It’s (AEW) just not a real business, its not about selling tickets its not about drawing money, its not about making money. its just not”

(So what’s it about?)

“I don’t know. I think having good matches maybe? And theres nothing wrong with that.”

-CM Punk says he got the call from Nick Khan the Monday before Survivor Series.

-CM Punk says AJ Lee will probably never return to TV but never say never.

-Colt Cabana walked up to CM Punk to bury the hatchet but Punk said he would never speak to him without a lawyer.

-CM Punk confirms he had two AEW Contracts.

1 contract for being a Wrestler.

1 contract for being a consultant for Tony Khan