Can’t Knock The Hustle: Pro Wrestling’s “I Did Not Care For The Godfather” Unpopular Opinions
ROBERT DUVALL!!!
If you’re a long-time viewer of Family Guy, you’ve already understood the reference. Some of you that aren’t fans of Family Guy still get it, as the template for memes and discussion traveled around social media for a while earlier this year.
For everyone else, the “I did not care for The Godfather” line is from an episode of Family Guy that saw the Griffin family seemingly on the verge of death. Peter Griffin chose this time to reveal to his family that he has been carrying a secret from them… he has never been a fan of the 1972 film, The Godfather, widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential movies ever made. This revelation stuns the rest of the family, who spend a few moments arguing with Peter about the film’s greatness, ranging from defending the iconic cast (including Chris Griffin’s hilarious shouting of Robert Duvall’s name that I referenced in the beginning of the column) to the subtle nuances of the Italian language.
The “unpopular opinions” trope isn’t new. You see it used in almost every form of media, and actually anything where opinions are used. Over the last 17 years, I’ve written a few “unpopular opinion” columns, with my most recent one being posted to this very site four years ago.
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Unless you’re a complete schmuck who can’t form your own thoughts, each and every one of us has some opinions on the sport that seem to go against the grain of the “popular” line of thinking. I’m no different. I’ve always had some thoughts that went in different directions than what you’d usually see, and I want to share some of them with you now.
I’ll try to defend my points of view to the best of my ability, and we’ll see if I change anybody’s mind about anything. Here goes nothing!
Cody Rhodes Is In The Perfect Spot: If you browse around enough, you’ll inevitably find a couple semi-related opinions about Cody Rhodes and his “spot” in WWE. The first opinion is that Cody’s face run has been bad, and that he should be turned heel as soon as possible. As for the other opinion, it’s usually along the lines of Cody being bad or boring in the ring, and therefore, he shouldn’t be a main event guy and the “face” of the entire company.
I’m not a subscriber to either of those points of view.
Crowds all over the world are still going absolutely crazy for Cody on a weekly basis. They’re giving him one of the loudest ovations, show in and show out. His merchandise is flying off of shelves faster than it is for anyone else. He is everywhere, doing media appearances and charity work, when he’s not wrestling. The man has done a really good job of trying to fill John Cena’s shoes for WWE.
With all of that, why wouldn’t Cody Rhodes be the top guy in WWE? Why wouldn’t he be on the face side of the fence, making millions of dollars and helping to bring in even more money for the company?
Cody is in the perfect spot right now, and you’re kidding yourself if you think otherwise.
WCW Putting Their World Title On David Arquette Wasn’t As Bad An Idea As People Think: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait… relax. I’m not saying it was a GOOD idea.
Let me clarify.
The IDEA of “let’s put our World Title on a celebrity in an attempt to get some attention from the mainstream media” isn’t too crazy, especially for a company like WCW that was already dying a slow death and was looking for anything to help save the company from going out of business.
Unfortunately, they hitched their wagon to David Arquette. I’m sure he’s a great guy and all, but he wasn’t exactly a huge box office star in April 2000, nor was he viewed as one of Hollywood’s toughest men.
Sure, it was all a tie-in to Arquette’s wrestling movie, Ready To Rumble, but that wasn’t exactly a hit, either. Arquette won the WCW World Title on April 25th, 2000. By the time he won the title, Ready To Rumble had just finished its third weekend in theaters. Would you like to know how much money it made during that third weekend?
Less than one million dollars.
It pulled in a domestic total of $994,671 and that was enough to make it the 18th biggest movie over the weekend. Whatever star power Arquette had was pretty much gone by the time he was given the World Title, making the entire thing pointless. It didn’t move the needle at all, and WCW would be sold off to the World Wrestling Federation less than a year later.
There were plenty of other movies, and plenty of other actors, that WCW could’ve attached themselves to and seen more success with a shocking title change. They just chose the wrong movie and the wrong actor, but what else would you expect from the company at that point in time?
I Enjoy The Two-Night Pay-Per-View Events: This is an easy one.
Shows like WrestleMania and SummerSlam switching to a two-night model is a good move. It allows for more matches and feuds to be on a show, giving more wrestlers a chance to shine. As a viewer, it gives me a lot more entertainment to sit back and enjoy.
Why would I view that as a bad thing?
Honestly, the only people that should be complaining about it are folks who are looking to attend the shows in person, but who are on a bit of a budget, and maybe can only afford tickets for one night. In that case, yes, you’re allowed to be upset, as you run the risk of choosing the “wrong” night to buy tickets for.
Outside of that, a lot of you need to stop looking a gift horse in the mouth, as the ridiculously weird saying goes.
LA Knight Is A Midcard Player, At Best: I’ve made my feelings on this topic clear in the past, so I don’t need to go into too many details, although I probably will, anyway.
I would be a fool to deny the man’s popularity with the WWE Universe. While I do think his reactions aren’t quite as loud as they once were, he remains one of the most over acts in the business.
What is he bringing to the table beyond that?
He’s not a bad wrestler. His matches are almost always acceptable, but if you look at all of the best matches he has participated in since returning to WWE in 2021, you’ll notice a bit of a trend… Ladder Match, War Games, Six-Man Tag, Money In The Bank, Elimination Chamber, Money In The Bank, Triple Threat Match… and so on.
On the mic, he knows how to get a crowd amped up, but how does he do it? By sounding like The Rock (the man himself admits that the sound and tone of his voice are similar to Dwayne Johnson’s) and doing impressions of Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Here’s a challenge for you… name me ONE promo of his that is especially memorable. I’m talking an entire promo, not just that one time he said that one line.
A lot of you would prefer to see him as a World Champion, but he’s not anywhere near equipped to shoulder that much weight in the ring or on the microphone. Being in the United States or Intercontinental Title picture is a great spot for him, as would finding a partner and being in a successful tag team.
As An Overall In-Ring Performer, Angelo Dawkins > Montez Ford: First things first… Montez Ford is on the short list of the most athletic, exciting professional wrestlers alive today. He does things in the ring (and jumping out of the ring) that don’t seem like they should be possible to pull off. I’ve had plenty of positive things to say about him, including advocating for him to have a singles push when the rumors were flying around that WWE was thinking of splitting the Street Profits up.
This entry isn’t a knock on Montez Ford at all. Instead, it’s all about praising Angelo Dawkins. He has gotten into the best shape of his career, and it shows in the ring. It’s just as it says… as an overall performer, I really do feel he’s the more complete package than Tez. He just isn’t anywhere near as flashy as his tag partner happens to be, so he doesn’t necessarily get the same amount of attention, which makes him one of the most underrated wrestlers in the game right now.
Pat McAfee Is Annoying: Is he funny? Of course he is. He has always been funny, going back to his media appearances and spots on NFL Network countdown shows when he was a player in the league. I won’t deny that whatsoever.
Delivering a one-liner here and there is one thing, though. Talking and talking and talking your way through two and three-hour programs is a different beast entirely. He caters his style to the usual “frat boy” crowd that has made his talk show so popular, and… well… I’m not exactly a member of said “frat boy” crowd.
If he had a different role in WWE, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. Even if it was something like Jim Ross in AEW, where he cycles in to help call a match or two on a pay-per-view, I think Pat could be a lot easier to deal with.
Even though I find Pat McAfee on the annoying side, he’s not even close to being on the same level as another announcer on the WWE payroll.
Booker T Is The King Of Annoying: I’ve been a fan of Booker T, the wrestler, for as long as I’ve known who he was. Harlem Heat is one of my all-time favorite tag teams, Booker’s run as a midcard singles wrestler is one of my favorite WCW acts, and I was ecstatic when he was pushed to the main event and became the WCW World Champion.
Hell, when he did commentary in TNA as the completely unhinged Black Snow character, I enjoyed that. It was insane, over-the-top, and was designed to be as wild as can be.
His work in NXT just isn’t anything along those lines. First and foremost, his voice isn’t exactly something I want to be listening to for extended periods of time. He’s very difficult to understand at times, and is even more so when he gets especially animated.
My biggest issue with him is that he doesn’t seem to actually pay any attention to the NXT product. I’ve lost track of how many times he needs to have things pointed out to him. He’ll either make a claim that is quickly shot down by Vic Joseph, or he’ll ask a question out loud that he, as the weekly color commentator for NXT, should know the answer to, and so on. It’s really frustrating to listen to.
I fail to believe that there isn’t someone better that could be used in Booker’s role.
Hulk Hogan Was A Good Wrestler Who Simply Didn’t Have To Be One: I know it’s not the “in” thing to say anything positive about Hulk these days, but my point remains.
If you haven’t seen Hulk’s work in Japan in the years before he won his first WWF Title, you’re missing out. He worked a style that fit right in with New Japan Pro Wrestling, and you’d be blown away if you watched his matches there. People tend to forget that Hulk was first trained in the business by Hiro Matsuda, who himself was a student of both Rikidozan and Karl Gotch. Hulk knew how to “go” in the ring.
As the years went on, though, he discovered that he didn’t need to get the shit beaten out of him every night to really get over. By the time he got to Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association, he had changed his look, style, and moveset. The rest, as they say, is history.
By the time “Hulkamania” was running wild and making him the biggest star the sport had ever seen, the man had become a master of doing the least to receive the most. Why work extra hard when you can get millions by doing a few moves and hitting a few poses? Say whatever you want about Terry Bollea as a person, but one thing you can’t take away from the man is how well he was able to work the system for decades, and fans ate it up.
MJF Is Overrated On The Mic When He Isn’t In A “Personal Blood Feud”: If you’ve read my work over the last few years, you’ve seen me heap a gigantic amount of praise on MJF’s promo skills.
The work he put in during his feud with CM Punk was absolutely incredible. His promo where he told the story of William Regal crushing his dreams and almost driving him to suicide is one of my favorite promos in all my years of wrestling fandom.
They were great because they were real. Real emotions turned into real words, and everyone could feel it.
Beyond feuds and moments like that, though, what do you have?
MJF going for the lowest hanging fruit possible. Telling Konosuke Takeshita that we “speak American” around here and pronouncing Konosuke’s last name as take-a-shit-uh… that’s lame as hell, and is something you’d expect from a middle schooler. Using words like “nimrod” and “douchebag” don’t help him, either.
When he isn’t in the middle of a feud where he can dig down deep and pull out some personal memories of his past and his childhood, his mic work is… well… as he would say it, mid. He’s obviously capable of so much better, but he gets so lazy and just rests on his laurels, which is very frustrating to me.
Mainstream Wrestling Needs Enzo Amore/nZo Again: I already know what a lot of you are thinking, and you’re ready to say that I’m supporting a rapist, but I need you to relax for a bit.
He was accused of some heinous crimes in 2018, but due to insufficient evidence, any investigation against him was dropped and his name was cleared. I think it’s fair to say that his decision making hasn’t always been the greatest, even outside of those charges, but again, his name was cleared. That’s what really matters here.
Enzo will never be confused with Bryan Danielson in the ring, but one thing the man excelled at was getting reactions out of people on the microphone. Even back to his time with NXT, he was, as he would say, blessed with the gift of gab (and the gift of jab).
Without question, there is a spot for him in WWE once again. However, the more compelling story might be for him to show up in AEW. I think he would get a huge pop if he were to come out and interrupt a Chris Jericho promo, immediately involving himself in a storyline with his former tag partner, Big Bill. A lot of people would love to see those two reunite. Consider me one of them.
I just think Enzo is an ingredient that is missing in the current mainstream wrestling landscape. There’s a lot of fun that could be had with him making a return to the spotlight.
So… how did I do? How unpopular are my unpopular opinions? What about you? Do you have any “I did not care for The Godfather” opinions that you’re willing to share with the class? As always, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, or on Bluesky (@aaronhyden.bsky.social), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Now, it’s time to switch things over to my Weekly Power Rankings, before closing things up for the week with the list of songs I was listening to as I put this column together.
Weekly Power Rankings
Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods: Their heel turn got off to a great start with them breaking Big E’s heart, but the immediate follow-up and follow-through was the most important thing to me. Well… they followed it up by getting nuclear levels of heat as they tried to cut a promo, so it appears to be working. The most promising thing about it was that they got that reaction in Wichita, Kansas, which isn’t exactly known as the hottest wrestling city on the planet. Imagine what cities like Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Atlanta (all places that will be hosting Raw in the coming weeks) will have to say.
Will Ospreay vs Claudio Castagnoli: Are you ready to keep the streak going? Let’s see… the Continental Classic provides clearly defined stakes. Clearly defined stakes = extra motivation for the wrestlers. Extra motivation for the wrestlers = better matches for us to watch. Easy peasy.
Ricochet vs Brody King: One more time! The Continental Classic provides clearly defined stakes. Clearly defined stakes = extra motivation for the wrestlers. Extra motivation for the wrestlers = better matches for us to watch.
Mark Briscoe vs Kyle Fletcher: Another one! The Continental Classic provides clearly defined stakes. Clearly defined stakes = extra motivation for the wrestlers. Extra motivation for the wrestlers = better matches for us to watch.
Sami Zayn vs Drew McIntyre: A pay-per-view quality match that was squeezed down into a television match time frame. I’m always down for stuff like that, as it allows for some good pacing, with very little “slow” spots.
Gunther vs Finn Balor vs Damian Priest: I don’t think the outcome was ever in question, especially when it was revealed to be a Triple Threat, but it was still a lot of fun. The best part of the entire thing is how strong Gunther looked. He has been booked to look “weaker” in recent weeks, so he really needed this.
Eddy Thorpe: The man staged his own attack so that he could be removed from the Iron Survivor Challenge, skipping past the insanity of that match and earning what amounts to a sympathy shot at the NXT Title. That’s brilliant work on his part. Sure, it won’t go anywhere, he’ll lose his title match, and then go back to being in the middle of the pack… but he’ll always have this big brain activity.
The Beast Mortos vs Kazuchika Okada: Let’s go! The Continental Classic provides clearly defined stakes. Clearly defined stakes = extra motivation for the wrestlers. Extra motivation for the wrestlers = better matches for us to watch.
Cody Rhodes vs Kevin Owens: There are already people who feel Cody is the heel in this feud, and the way this match unfolded only strengthens those opinions. The match itself was good, but Cody using the steel chair the way he did provides a very interesting wrinkle to things. KO’s post-show attack on Cody, where he brought back the PACKAGE PILEDRIVER, tells us that this feud will continue on. My only problem is that Kevin Owens has now been unsuccessful in his last 22 (!!!) shots at a singles title on television or pay-per-view, with 11 of those shots being for some sort of World Title. He dropped the United States Title to AJ Styles on July 25th, 2017, and he has yet to hold a singles title since. That’s pure insanity.
Je’Von Evans vs Wes Lee: Lots and lots of high-flying, ultra-athletic action. No complaints here. 2025 is being set up as a potentially huge year for Evans in NXT.
“Switchblade” Jay White & Orange Cassidy vs Jon Moxley & Pac: Everything currently going on with Mox in AEW has been receiving mixed reviews, but at least the matches he’s involved in are still entertaining to watch. We’ll have to wait and see where the story goes, I guess.
Jesse Ventura: There was so much nostalgia seeing and hearing “The Body” doing commentary again. I really enjoyed it, and I’m happy to hear that he will be back in the same role for next month’s episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event. Here’s to hoping that he and Joe Tessitore find time between now and then to build some sort of chemistry together, because they certainly didn’t have it here.
Willow Nightingale vs Jamie Hayter: It took a while, but it seems like Jamie Hayter is getting back to the levels she was at before her injury. I was becoming such a huge fan of hers back then, and I’ve been a bit underwhelmed since her return. Seeing her do stuff like this makes me happy.
Julia Hart: She was putting in the best work of her career before being injured, and that’s both in the ring and with her character work, so it’s good to see her back. The AEW women’s division could really use the boost that she’ll provide.
Chelsea Green: While the match itself wasn’t always smooth, it was great to see Chelsea become the very first Women’s United States Champion. The pop she got for winning was huge. Live crowds are really starting to come around to her amazing character work, and she deserves the love she has been receiving.
Rhea Ripley vs Raquel Rodriguez: Two big badass women beating the hell out of each other, and you didn’t even have to subscribe to an OnlyFans page to see it. What a world we live in.
Mariah May vs Mina Shirakawa: I will never, ever complain when Mina Shirakawa is on my television screen. It doesn’t matter what she’s doing. I love her.
Toni Storm: She has returned to AEW with her initial character, and in a fun backstage promo, she seems to have some sort of amnesia, as she is acting as if she has just signed with AEW. There is no mention of the months and months of the “Timeless” character. I’m already interested to see where all of this is going.
Tony D’Angelo vs Ethan Page: The downward spiral of Ethan Page continues. He’s still having good matches, but he has become very emo since dropping the NXT Championship on October 1st.
Bayley vs Chelsea Green: This was a better match than Chelsea’s title-winning bout against Michin, and it was when a lot of people saw that her becoming a champion was a legitimate possibility.
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Dark Side Of The Ring: The show hasn’t been as good as it once was, mainly because most of the more intriguing stories have been covered, but I’m still excited to see the show make a return. The episodes on Daffney, Ludvig Borga, and “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert could be pretty special.
This Week’s Playlist: “Last Dance With Mary Jane” by Snoop Dogg, Tom Petty & Jelly Roll… “Thank You” by Snoop Dogg… “Swang Down” by Paul Wall, Z-Ro & Crys Wall… “All Y’all” by Timbaland, Sebastian & Tweet… “Poppin’ Them Thangs” by G-Unit… “Salute U” by G-Unit… “My World” by Big Pun… “Swing My Way” by KP & Envyi… “Let It Burn” by Playa Poncho… “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” by K-Ci… “In Bloom” by Nirvana… “Come As You Are” by Nirvana… “Lithium” by Nirvana… “Something In The Way” by Nirvana… “Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit… “Blind” by KoRn… “Dig” by Mudvayne… “Cold” by Static-X… “Blue Monday” by Orgy… “When Worlds Collide” by Powerman 5000