Cody Rhodes To Face Recent Rival in Bullrope Match on WWE Raw

Amidst uncertainty for Cody Rhodes’ road to WrestleMania, he will renew his rivalry with Shinsuke Nakamura on WWE Raw in a Bullrope match. Rhodes is fresh off a massive win at the 2024 men’s Royal Rumble where he made it clear he wants Reigns again. Rhodes has been a topic of conversation since WWE SmackDown where he revealed he wouldn’t be wrestling Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

Instead, The Rock appeared and seemingly kicked off the feud between the two powerhouses. The match has been in the cards for years since Reigns rose to new heights within the WWE, proclaiming he’s the “head of the table.” This has sparked a social media movement where WWE fans are voicing their frustrations with the hashtag #WeWantCody and spamming the dislike button on The Rock and Reigns’ segment on WWE’s YouTube channel.

As for Rhodes, World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins called out “The American Nightmare” last week, almost begging Rhodes to pick him. He compares the WWE Title to Hogan, calling it the “Hollywood” title while the Heavyweight Championship has been a workhorse title, much more comparable to “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. But of course, Rhodes winning that title wouldn’t be the end to his story as it isn’t the one that has alluded the Rhodes family. 

For now it seems that Rhodes is stepping out of the title conversation for WrestleMania to once again face Nakamura. At a recent WWE Live event after their match, Rhodes was blindsided by Nakamura who misted him as he made his way into gorilla. Raw General Manager Adam Pierce took to WWE’s social media to announce the match will take place live from St. Louis, Missouri on tomorrow’s WWE Raw. Time will tell if this is just a one off match to kill time between now and WrestleMania while Rhodes’ plans get ironed out. 

Rhodes and Nakamura first kicked off their rivalry in December when Nakamura voiced that in order to open the next chapter of his story, he needs to be the one to end Rhodes’. He pointed to the similarities in their stories: both won the Royal Rumble but could not win a world title at WrestleMania. That feud continued through January where Nakamura would again mist Rhodes in the face, leading to their eventual street fight. They have continued wrestling each other at WWE Live events, including in three Bullrope matches, a match type Dusty Rhodes popularized.