#wwe meta

an underrated part of the seth and roman feud is they were both groomed by men in positions of power, triple h with seth and roman being vince mcmahon's pet project. but roman can't acknowledge that part of his past, so he has to project it onto seth and use it as a means to emasculate him -- esp since seth betrayed him for triple h and he can't come to terms with it without insinuating seth was triple h's bitch

and finally, both within and outside of kayfabe - cody loves randy. it's not even the first wrestlemania he's taken a punt from randy to the head! insane! he's maybe the only person to fully understand and empathise with how randy gets when the voices take control (shoutout smackdown 2011). this also makes their relationship so intense and oscillating. he never knows which randy he's going to get, the concerned older brother mentor checking up on him after their match or the unrepentant viper who rko's him outta nowhere and destroys his title match.

cody's journey in wwe since his return has been 2022-2024, proving himself as someone worthy for the title, and 2024-2026 carrying the responsibilities of the title/being face of the company. but now he is without a title, and according to himself he doesn't have to be the good guy anymore. he's been honourable and turned the other cheek because of the title (and the impossible standards he sets on himself to be worthy of it, there's many heel champions you don't have to be a good guy to have the title. this is self imposed) not because being a babyface is inherent to him as evidenced by him being a heel most of his career. I think that's really fascinating. what he's also implicitly saying is he can't be a heel champion... but he can be a heel now that he's not in the title picture. whether he chooses to, however, we'll have to see

the crux of this feud rests less on the paranoia of wanting gold which is all of other cody feuds and more on cody feeling disrespected by punk

and now every time cody goes against a european -- drew, and now gunther, wwe creative makes them say the same line that I'M the real American dream because I travelled to the US and made it here while you're a silver spoon golden boy. you can tell they're reheating codypunk's nachos

codys really good at working his angles because he's not that much bigger than jey but he knows to stand at three quarters angle makes him look much wider and the bent elbow holding his title which flex his bicep thru the shirt compared to holding his arms straight like jey's. just little camera focused details that make him more imposing as the champion, since it is a big boys sports entertainment

and speaking of mind games, Punk saying he needs to know who the better wrestler is between them... for business after making this feud personal, calling Cody his little brother and how he's still down to be friends after even though Cody's so paranoid (Punk's diagnosis, which Cody disagrees with), is also a mind game. And what does knowing who the better wrestler is for business mean? Meaning, who should be the face of the company; the money makers, the face that goes on all the talk show interviews and on all the cups -- which is Cody's spot. (And Roman's, and Rhea's)