Cody Rhodes is recruiting reinforcements. The American Nightmare has his second crack at Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns at WWE WrestleMania 40, but as evident by his loss last year, he needs allies to even out The Bloodline’s numbers game. At WWE WrestleMania 39, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens hit the ring to neutralize the threat of Jimmy and Jey Uso, but Solo Sikoa was left alone, leading the Tribal Heir to puncture Rhodes with a Samoan Spike, a moment of interference that ultimately cost Rhodes the match. This year, The Bloodline is down Jey Uso, as the Right Hand Man defected from the ranks last summer, but has up a megastar ally in the form of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
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Seeing the havoc that The Bloodline has imposed on WWE over the past four years, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins has offered to be Rhodes’s shield in this fight. This has led to the battle lines being ironed out between Rhodes and Rollins opposite Reigns and Rock, as Rock has proposed a tag bout between the two sides. Seeing how the numbers tend to operate, former Bloodline member Jey Uso has made himself available for help, but has suggested they need a bigger army.
“Cody, bro, if you need help, I got you. Call on me. If anybody know how they get down, it’s me. But I’m telling you, we need more soldiers, Cody,” Jey said. “We need more soldiers if we’re gonna go against The Bloodline. We need about six, seven more.”
With that in mind, who else could Rhodes call on for backup?
Jey Uso
To state the obvious, Jey Uso would be among Cody’s ranks. Jey has had bad blood with his former stable since last summer and remains in the crosshairs of his brother Jimmy. With all signs pointing to Jey vs. Jimmy happening on the WWE WrestleMania 40 card, it wouldn’t be out of Jey’s way to be by Cody’s side in his fight against The Bloodline.
John Cena
The last WWE fans saw John Cena, he was being squashed by Solo Sikoa. Cena suffered one of the most one-sided defeats of his career at WWE Crown Jewel this past fall, looking like a shell of himself against the Tribal Heir. Beyond that match, Cena’s beef with The Bloodline goes back to WWE SummerSlam 2021 when he took on Roman Reigns in another losing effort. While Cena’s movie schedule would likely leave him unavailable in the lead up to WWE WrestleMania 40, it’s possible that he could make time for a one-off appearance on the show itself.
Dustin Rhodes
Who better to battle The Bloodline than Cody’s own blood? Dustin Rhodes departed WWE in 2019 to join Cody in All Elite Wrestling upon the new promotion’s launch. While Cody left AEW in 2022, Dustin has remained. With his AEW deal reportedly not up until September, legalities will likely block this from happening, but appearance trades between top companies is not impossible. Back in 2012, TNA allowed Ric Flair to attend the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony in exchange for then-WWE talent Christian Cage to show up at TNA Slammiversary. If cooler heads prevail, WWE and AEW could execute a similar one-off trade to allow Dustin to pop up at WWE WrestleMania 40 to help Cody.
Shawn Spears
Another familiar AEW face is back in WWE. Shawn Spears made his return to WWE this past February, popping up in NXT to attack Ridge Holland. While he is a heel on Tuesdays, WWE has experimented with talent having different attitudes on different shows, evident by Bron Breakker being a fan-favorite on WWE SmackDown while remaining an antagonist on NXT TV. Spears was a bitter rival to Rhodes within AEW, but in real life, the two are close friends.
Tama Tonga
Reports are pointing to top free agent Tama Tonga being hot-shotted to the main roster should he sign with WWE, where his heritage would be brought into The Bloodline. As the son of Haku, a wrestling legend that both Rock and Reigns refer to as their uncle, Tonga is considered a non-blood member of the Anoa’i family. While this connection could be used to rope Tonga into The Bloodline, it could be equally used to go against the faction. Tonga could want vengeance on The Bloodline for not acknowledging his family within the big Anoa’i family tree, resulting in him aligning with Rhodes and company. Rhodes and Tonga have history together as well, as the two fought alongside one another in Bullet Club before that faction erupted into civil war.
