The “Cody Rhodes Should Have Beaten Roman Reigns at WrestleMania” Debate Rages On

WWE’s decision to have Roman Reigns retain his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Cody Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania 39 has proven to be one of the promotion’s more controversial booking decisions in recent years. Triple H, Paul Heyman and various pro wrestling legends have all given their two cents about the decision, with some arguing that it was the right time to crown a new babyface champion while others felt WWE was in the right to keep the titles on Reigns past one thousand days. 

And on top of the bizarre “Rhodes hasn’t faced enough adversity to become champion” argument that emerged shortly after the two-night event in Los Angeles, another has popped up right alongside it — “if Rhodes wins, what happens next?” Dustin Rhodes, Cody’s older half-brother, touched on that idea while on Busted Open Radio this week. 

“They’re making him pay for it now,” Dustin said (h/t Wrestling Inc). “They’re making him earn it, and I like that. I do. I like that, because once you put the title on him, where are you going?

“I’m extremely proud of him. I wish him the best, and he’s going to be world champion. I know it. I don’t know when, but he’s going to be world champion,” he added.

Regarding the “What would WWE have done next?” argument, the answer seems to be obvious — let Rhodes defend his newly-won title. His current program with Brock Lesnar would have kicked off in nearly identical fashion and there are half a dozen worthy challengers Rhodes could take on between now and the end of the year. Dave Meltzer discussed it on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio. 

“If Cody would’ve won, what’s left for him? He’d be defending the title against Brock Lesnar at this pay-per-view!” Meltzer said. “Here’s the thing. If he wins, what’s he going to do? He can defend against Brock Lesnar, Bobby Lashley, Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa, Sami Zayn if he needs to do that, Drew McIntyre, Gunther and I think I’ve just run down about 18 months of s— that he can do. He’s got plenty that he can do.

“If Roman is champion, what can he do? Roman is going to not wrestle much and can defend against Lesnar — no because of the stipulation he can’t wrestle Lesnar anymore. They can turn Solo Sikoa, they can have him wrestle Cody one more time. They can do Sami Zayn (again) but everybody knows Sami isn’t going to win. Or Drew McIntyre, which is somebody he’s already beaten. Essentially, there’s four times as many things Cody can do, plus he’s going to be there more, than Roman Reigns can do,” he added.

This poses the question yet again — did WWE make a mistake in choosing Reigns to retain at WrestleMania? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!