All Elite Musings - #1 Booking Brandi

All Elite Musings

#1 Booking Brandi

   Brandi Rhodes is a divisive character within All Elite Wrestling. As Chief Brand Officer and wife of Cody Rhodes, she is also a prominent figure. She is a charismatic individual and clearly a very talented woman. However, she has often faced backlash on Twitter over her position in AEW. Be it, her appointment as CBO or her in-ring opportunities. Fans often claim she is benefiting from nepotism.

   I am not going to focus too much on this claim, I am going to look at how best to maximise her substantial potential. Is she in her positions because of her relationship with Cody? Maybe, partially. But we don’t know how involved she has been in Cody’s rise to prominence, we don’t know what goes on behind the scenes at AEW and as for in-ring, she has clearly progress significantly. What is clear is that she is an incredibly talented and driven woman.

   Brandi Rhodes is currently a heel in AEW. This is what I wish to muse over in this article. It seems the obvious route, one that is tried and tested and one that she is very good at. Her run with Cody in ROH saw the two of them as entertaining uber-heels, this being her most prominent role to date. However is this really the right route for her?

   Before Fight for the Fallen, she did an interview as part of Road to Fight for the Fallen where she spoke candidly about her past struggles with performance anxiety. This was well received and many believed it to be a face turn of sorts. This didn’t materialise with her playing the heel in her match with Allie.

   This match was criticised by some fans on Twitter. These fans believing her not to be on the level of other women in AEW. However, in the previously mentioned video she had cited this stating that she often struggled when the lights are on bright. Lots of fans will have connected with this and been able to relate to it. She put herself across as a relatable character which is a precious commodity in any form of celebrity.

   Why not run with this. Be the real Brandi Rhodes, if this is indeed the real her, the hard-working individual who has built herself from the ground up alongside her equally hard-working husband. In this way when she has weaker performances she can reference that struggle and talk about how she is training. Therefore, her stronger performances, which I believe are the norm, can become Bayley-esque moments.

   Her endless reserves of charisma can drive forward either character. The fire that was present in the recent Road to All Out video would also fit really well with a babyface character. I believe this character would be a departure from the norm for Brandi and a very interesting avenue to explore.

   In the end, her charisma and work ethic make her an incredible talent regardless of who she is married to. She has clearly earned her place and is an important figure. It seems possible that as AEW progresses Cody will become a maniacal heel again as the company doesn’t have many established heels outwith Chris Jericho. Perhaps, her current heel role is a precursor to this. Or perhaps they have just decided that the women’s division is best served with a heel Brandi Rhodes in the mix.

   After her ‘Road to…’ work I am intrigued to see how her AEW role grows over the next few months.

Booking WWE with Intelligence - #1 King of the Ring 2019

Booking WWE with Intelligence

#1 King of the Ring 2019

Story of the First Round

• Corbin mocks Ricochet’s size and throws him around. Ricochet has the last laugh defeating him with a string of typically-Ricochet impressive moves to take the win.
• Cesaro and Owens competitive match is decided via the interference of Shane McMahon. Cesaro looks smug but was highly impressive throughout.
• Ali finally gets his revenge on Joe for injuring him earlier this year. Joe looks monstrous but Ali’s resilience and arrayof brilliance triumphs.
• Gable cuts a fiery promo pre-match stating this is his tournament and he will climb the mountainous McIntyre. McIntyre struggles to deal with Gable’s wrestling brilliance taking many suplexes but also dishes out lots of punishment to Gable. Gable ducks a Claymore and hits a German catching McIntyre mid-Claymore to set up his victory.
• The Miz defeats Elias despite an attempted Shane McMahon distraction.
• Zayn steals one from a very game Andrade who dominated the majority of the match. Zayn flees from an irate McIntyre after the match.
• Murphy attacks Apollo pre-match then absolutely decimates a resolute Apollo during the match. Murphy looks viscous nonetheless.
• Cedric defeats Benjamin in an athletic match. Benjamin snaps and batters Cedric post-match

Quarter Finals

• Ricochet and Cesaro put on an athletic spectacle. Cesaro attempts of cheat mid match but Ricochet evades the attempted use of an exposed turnbuckle. Cesaro wins clean at the end. He then refuses Ricochet’s offer of a handshake post-match but certainly considers it.
• Ali and Gable shake hands at the start. This is a frenetic, high paced match. Aerial assault versus hard hitting suplexes. Gable bests Ali in a long match where both men come out looking better than they went in.
• The Miz again triumphs despite interference, this time from Elias. Miz hits the Skull Crushing Finale after ducking a guitar shot cusing it to hit Zayn instead.
• Murphy and Alexander clash for the first time since 205 Live. Before the match their 205 rivalry is recapped in a video package. Competitive match where Cedric shows off his range of impressive moves and Murphy continues to brutally take apart his opponents. Murphy puts away a resolute opponent.

Semi Finals

• Two wrestling machines clash. In an epic match Cesaro proves just a little too strong for Gable. An incredible back and forth match that sees Gable almost triumph on numerous occasions. Cesaro eventually wins hitting a string of Gotch piledrives to extinguish Gable’s hopes. Cesaro helps Gable from the mat at the end before swiftly exiting.
• Murphy absolutely destroys the Miz. Heavy knee strikes from the moment the bell sounds. The Miz only lands a couple of punches in the entire match. Murphy dominates with viscous strikes, speed and heavy offense.

Final

• Murphy hits Cesaro with a running V-Trigger from behind during his entrance with a huge run up down the entrance ramp. Cesaro is tended to be doctors but insists on competing.
• Murphy dominates early, hitting aerial moves and strong grapples. He keeps trying for the knee again but Cesaro manages to avoid each time. Cesaro eventually mounts a comeback; uppercutting and suplexing Murphy around the ring.
• Murphy manages to hit the knee again, taking all the wind out of Cesaro’s sails and resumes dishing out the punishment.
• Cesaro has to mount another comeback initiated by a springboard corkscrew uppercut. The comes from Cesaro ducking another knee attempt rebounding to hit a massive flying uppercut, followed by a Gotch before forcing Murphy to tap to the Sharpshooter.
• Murphy looks like a killer and Cesaro is now a born-again babyface and celebrates in the crowd as he once did.

My Wrestling Story

My Favourite Wrestling Match

Hello and welcome to my website all about the eccentric world of professional wrestling.

I started watching wrestling when my family finally got Sky TV when I was a teenager. I had always heard my friends talking about The Rock or Stone Cold at primary school but I saw very little of it. However I dived headfirst into the world of Smackdown and Raw at my first possibility.

This was in 2003 when Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, Triple H and Shawn Michaels dominated WWE television. As the end of my first year of watching wrestling drew near I enjoyed the twin underdog triumphs of Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero culminating at Wrestlemania 20.

In my immature teenaged years I developed a love for Batista and John Cena. I had not developed my current love for excellent performers in the ilk of Kenny Omega or Will Ospreay. In fact a lot of my early wrestling-watching years were based around cheering John Cena.

Things started to change when The Shield shifted the WWE landscape and I eventually came across NXT. I immediately fell in love with super-talented performers such as Finn Balor, Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.

I finally broadened my horizons by following my curiosity when hearing about Cody Rhodes' life after WWE.

 I enjoyed his ROH title defences and watched the G1 special in the US that featured Kenny Omega winning the US Title and Cody vs Okada. I dipped in and out of NJPW never really connecting with it until Wrestle Kingdom 13 and more the the point, the incredible Dominion show that year with the epic, and still my favourite match, Omega vs Okada 4. A New Japan Cup and a G1 later I was hooked.

During this time I had discovered Being the Elite and had fallen in love with the then Bullet Club. Thus leading to my excitement around All In and then AEW. 

Now, I am an avid watcher of, the currently sporadic, AEW shows, NXT, NJPW and WWE. A few weeks back I made a foray into wrestling Twitter and really enjoyed creating content. My hope is that this blog will bring together all of that content and future content in an organised manner!

I will leave you with...

My Current Top 5 Wrestlers

1. Kenny Omega
2. Will Ospreay
3. Johnny Gargano
4. Sasha Banks
5. Kazuchika Okada