Since Cody Rhodes’ WWE return at WrestleMania 38 his whole journey has been about “finishing the story.” After his match against Seth Rollins at WWE Hell in a Cell 2022, Rhodes took time off to heal his gruesome torn pectoral injury. He returned in the 2023 men’s Royal Rumble and won it, solidifying a match against the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39. Rhodes came up just short of defeating Reigns but he hasn’t given up on winning the championship his father Dusty Rhodes never won, the WWE Championship.
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Since that huge loss, Rhodes has had to overcome adversity at every turn. He defeated Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, became a co-holder of the WWE Tag Team Championships with Jey Uso for a short spell, and led his team to victory in Survivor Series WarGames (a match his father had a hand in creating). He did all of this while being an ambassador for WWE, a top merchandise seller and, now, a WWE 2K24 cover star. With that said, Rhodes believes his story will cultivate at this year’s WrestleMania in Philadelphia.
“I don’t think I have a definitive answer, but I will tell you, I think it does,” Rhodes said on Busted Open Radio. “The reason being, if last year, the match had gone differently. If last year Roman had just beaten me 1-2-3, right in the middle, I just crumbled under the lights and I wasn’t on his level, that’s a different story. The way the match unfolded and the year I have, it feels like it has to be at WrestleMania. It just seems like it’s coming full circle. Everything can change. You have to get to WrestleMania in the first place, whether you win the Royal Rumble or the Elimination Chamber. It’s not an easy task. It would have been different if this was the first time. This is a rematch. I feel like the rematch needs to take place where the original match took place. Just my gut. Is there a world where it doesn’t happen there, sure, perhaps, but in my lay down at night and go to sleep dreams, it would be at WrestleMania, especially since I love Philadelphia.”
Rhodes’ first obstacle to facing Reigns for a second time begins tonight at the Royal Rumble. Rhodes must defeat 29 other men to point to the WrestleManiaย sign for a second consecutive year, something that hasn’t been done in over 20 years. Of course, there are more than a few obstacles in his way. Both CM Punk and Drew McIntyre have made it clear that they intend to eliminate Rhodes to finish their own stories.ย
For Punk, he never got his WrestleMania main event in his initial run. Other than Rhodes, he appears to be the favorite to win as he would likely go on to face Seth Rollins at WrestleMania should Rollins be cleared to wrestle by then. McIntyre on the other hand never got his big title win in front of the fans. Both of his WWE title wins took place during the pandemic when WWE was still utilizing the performance center and the ThunderDome. With his new attitude as a top heel in WWE, McIntyre is doing some of the best character work of his career.
Do you think Rhodes will “finish the story” at WrestleMania 40? Let us know in the comments!
H/T: Fightful
