WWE Rumors on WrestleMania Parodies and Nixed Raw Angle; Cody Rhodes Ratings Update
Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.
WWE Reportedly Planning Movie Parodies to Hype WrestleMania
Much like WWE did leading up to WrestleMania 21 in Los Angeles, the company is reportedly planning to feature some of its Superstars in movie parodies as a tie-in for WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
According to WrestleVotes, WWE has multiple performers and parodies lined up to fit in with the "WrestleMania Goes Hollywood" tagline.
The plans for parody movie trailers reportedly call for The Miz and Maryse in Top Gun, The Judgment Day in a Stranger Things, The Bloodline in Goodfellas, The Brawling Brutes and Drew McIntyre in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch playing Batman and The Joker.
Over the past few weeks, WWE has been showing some of its WrestleMania 21 parodies in an apparent effort to prepare fans for the new ones that will be released in conjunction with WrestleMania 39.
Although the WrestleMania 21 parody trailers didn't have any impact on the show itself, they are still talked about and remembered fondly by fans today.
WWE can accomplish something similar this year, especially if the report of which Superstars are involved is accurate.
Essentially all of them have great characters and quality acting chops, so they have a chance to knock their roles out of the park and ensure that their performances are still discussed decades from now.
WWE Canceled Valentine's Day Segment on Raw
WWE reportedly had festive plans for Monday night's episode of Raw that were ultimately called off.
According to Fightful Select (h/t H Jenkins of Ringside News), WWE brought in many props for a Valentine's Day backstage segment, but it was canceled.
Valentine's Day was on Tuesday, and WWE typically likes to do something related to holidays if they fall on or near the night of a show, but Raw instead focused on the build toward Saturday's Elimination Chamber premium live event.
WWE didn't totally ignore Valentine's Day, though, as Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley going on a Valentine's Day date was shown on social media.
Also, on NXT, Brooks Jensen and Kiana James went on a Valentine's Day date, and while Fallon Henley tried to bust James for cheating, it turned out that she was just talking to her brother.
That type of segment was a more natural fit for NXT than Raw since the storyline involving Jensen, James, Henley and Josh Briggs has been ongoing for quite some time.
James was once pitted against the trio, but she changed her tune, fell for Jensen and became NXT women's tag team champions with Henley.
Although Henley is still suspicious of James' true motivations, Jensen is head over heels for the group's former rival.
Rhodes Drawing Big Ratings for WWE
Ahead of his anticipated WrestleMania main event match against Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes is doing big numbers for WWE on Raw.
According to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics, Rhodes' promo segment with Sami Zayn on Monday's episode of Raw brought in 2.08 million viewers and did a 0.53 rating in the 18-49-year-old demographic, making it the highest-rated quarter-hour of the show.
Thurston also reported that Rhodes was involved in the highest-rated quarter-hour of Raw the previous week, as his promo with Paul Heyman drew 2.027 million viewers.
After suffering a torn pectoral muscle in June, Rhodes returned as the 30th entrant in the 2023 men's Royal Rumble match last month and went on to win, securing a world title match at WrestleMania 39.
At the time, a portion of the viewing audience suggested that it should be Zayn rather than Rhodes facing Reigns at WrestleMania because of the popularity of the storyline involving The Bloodline.
Instead, WWE is doing Reigns vs. Zayn at Elimination Chamber on Saturday in Zayn's hometown of Montreal, and the result of that match will determine who faces Rhodes at WrestleMania.
There was concern among some observers about fans hijacking the shows and turning on Rhodes in favor of Zayn, but that hasn't been the case since both Superstars are widely beloved.
WWE showed immense confidence in Rhodes by putting him in a promo segment with Zayn on Raw, and the decision-makers were rewarded, as fans chanted for both men rather than pitting them against each other.
There are times when WWE struggles to find one viable challenger, but now it has two of them, and there is no reason to believe Rhodes will be anything other than embraced heading toward WrestleMania.
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