Cody Rhodes punched his ticket to the WrestleMania 39 main event back in January by winning the Men’s Royal Rumble. But later that same night Sami Zayn made his long-awaited decision to finally break free from The Bloodline. The show-closing segment was months in the making and led to a white-hot Undisputed Universal Championship match between Zayn and Roman Reigns. Even though Zayn lost at Elimination Chamber, fan support for the former “Honorary Uce” didn’t seem to waver, to the point where fans started actively pushing for him to be added to the WrestleMania main event.ย
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Regardless, Rhodes remained confident that fans would get behind his program with “The Tribal Chief.” He discussed that in a new interview on the Out of Character Podcast this week.
“I looked at it as a challenge, is probably the best way to look at it, and not a negative challenge,” Rhodes said. “Sami is doing amazing things. You didn’t just buy yourself some future spot. You’ve got to get back in there and show people exactly what you can do. What a great problem to have when you have two very strong characters. One of the worst things we can do as a community is trying to turn the characters against one another. Sami got his shot in Montreal, in his hometown, and came as close as anyone. Drew may be very similar in terms of being close. Sami and I have a real genuine relationship. I thought, ‘Well, if they love him, and I’m been so lucky that they love me in this moment too, I better make sure I give them the absolute best, and again, leave no doubt.’ I never once looked at it as a problem. I looked at it as a challenge and for WWE as a whole, a great problem to have.”
“Every show is a little more telling, but Brooklyn, in the Barclays Center, that filled me with confidence as far as their belief in what he’s doing and their belief in what I’m doing,” he continued. “There are stories to be finished here for both sides and the worst thing you can do is turn those against each other. As we stood there I thought, ‘Well, I’d love to wrestle this guy.’ I would love to wrestle this guy because you know, Sami wasn’t sweating me when I was Stardust, and rightfully so. He didn’t need too. He was coming up from NXT and on a roll. It’s a different person now. So very much it’s a match that I look forward to when and if it ever happens with somebody like a Sami Zayn. He’s a next level performer and he’s even more of an elite next level human being.”
