Cody Rhodes Facing Roman Reigns At WrestleMania 39 Is Official
The Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match between champion Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes is official following the challenger’s promo on Raw.
It was a very successful Royal Rumble event for Cody Rhodes, who made his return to the ring after being out of action since June due to torn pectoral muscle. Following surgery and a rigorous rehab process, Cody was cleared on the day of the Royal Rumble this past Saturday.
Rhodes entered the Royal Rumble in the coveted #30 spot and faced off with the first entrant, GUNTHER, in a scintillating final two sequence that ended when Cody knocked the big Austrian out of the ring to win the Men’s Royal Rumble match.
Roman Reigns also continued his reign as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Kevin Owens at the Royal Rumble. While the win was a bit controversial, Roman’s nearly 900-day reign as Universal Champion continues while this year’s WrestleMania will be one year since Reigns captured the WWE Title at last year’s WrestleMania.
During the opening promo segment on the January 30th edition of WWE Monday Night Raw, Rhodes talked about facing Reigns at WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Cody said that Reigns can be the Tribal Chief and the Head of the Table, but the one thing Roman Reigns will not be is the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.
What this means for the Roman Reigns story with Sami Zayn is unknown for now, but WWE does have plans to do Reigns vs. Zayn at Elimination Chamber on February 18th in Zayn’s hometown of Montreal. We should find out more on Smackdown this week.
With that announcement from Cody Rhodes on Raw, the match is official with WWE writing this on their website:
Following his triumph over 29 other Superstars in the 2023 Royal Rumble Match, Cody Rhodes will now get the opportunity to realize his dream when he challenges Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns on The Grandest Stage of Them All.
One of the most dominant World Champions of all time, Reigns is enjoying a legendary title reign, winning epic battles against Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Drew McIntyre and many more. As he presides over The Bloodline with an iron fist on The Island of Relevancy, The Head of the Table stands armed with a brutal arsenal and seems unstoppable.
From the unstoppable to the Superstar who would simply not be stopped, Rhodes returned to WWE and made it clear that his one and only focus was to become WWE Champion. After battling through a gruesome pectoral injury to defeat Seth “Freakin” Rollins in a Hell in a Cell Match and taking some time to rehabilitate, The American Nightmare returned to win the Royal Rumble and now sets his sights on toppling Reigns to finally capture the biggest prize in WWE.
Don’t miss the highly-anticipated Undisputed WWE Universal Championship showdown when WrestleMania goes Hollywood during for a special two-night Premium Live Event, Saturday, April 1, and Sunday, April 2, at 8 ET/5 PT, streaming live on Peacock in the United States and on WWE Network everywhere else.
In addition to Reigns vs. Rhodes, Rhea Ripley also announced her WrestleMania intentions on Raw by declaring that she will challenge Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles.