Cody Rhodes has made it clear that his main goal in his second run with WWE is to finally become WWE Champion and honor his father’s legacy. That title currently belongs to Roman Reigns, who unified it with the Universal Championship back at WrestleMania 38. One thing fans are hoping to see if and when Rhodes win the title is a revival of the classic Winged Eagle WWF Championship design used the 80s and 90s. Rhodes previously revived the golden-era version of the Intercontinental Championship belt, a revival that stuck around until the latest design was introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.ย
Rhodes played into that speculation this week by uploading a close-up look of that title on his Instagram story, prompting fans to get excited. Some fan art has already started popping up showing that Rhodes’ current “Homeland” gear matches perfectly with the retro title.ย
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While Reigns hasn’t mentioned defending either championship against Rhodes, “The American Nightmare” has already started teasing it. He said on a recent episode of The Bump โ “…When I left here, Roman Reigns was on top. And I think Roman Reigns was experiencing some of the negative byproduct of being on top. Some of the pushback that a new face, a new individual [deals with],” Rhodes said. “But the thing that makes a champion in any company is consistency. And when he said ‘Dallas, Texas, acknowledge me’ and whether they’re supposed to boo, cheer, whatever it might be, and they acknowledged him. That’s what, you want to know a term that is really overused in what we do, is over.
“…He has truly gotten over via consistency and via hard work. What he has going now with Paul Heyman and [The Usos],” Rhodes added. “I don’t want to use this word because I don’t want to sound like… he’s an intimidating presence. I just look forward to obviously, again, it exists. There’s a match out there that is likely the match that exists out there. But before the matches, you’ve got to cross paths in some capacity and we haven’t yet, and I look forward to that.”
Do you think WWE should make this change to the WWE Championship? Or should the current design keep sticking around? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments! Rhodes’ next pay-per-view match is scheduled for May 8, where he’ll take on Seth Rollins at WrestleMania Backlash.