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Breaking: Cody Rhodes Pulled From WWE Appearance Due To Injury

By Neda Ali • Published Apr 19, 2026 10:49 EDT
cody rhodes wwe
Cody Rhodes promo on SmackDown, April 3, 2026 - Source: WWE.com

Following his successful title defense at WrestleMania, Cody Rhodes has been pulled out from a major event this Sunday in Las Vegas.

WrestleMania 42 Night One main event saw Cody Rhodes retain his Undisputed WWE Championship against Randy Orton, but the match came at a severe physical cost. The bout was a war from the opening seconds. Before the bell even rang, Pat McAfee blindsided Rhodes with a microphone shot, and Jelly Roll quickly evened the odds by putting McAfee through the announce desk with an elbow drop, sending the former commentator to the back on a stretcher.

McAfee later returned wearing a referee’s shirt during the closing moments, only for Orton to RKO him when the plan fell apart. Rhodes capitalized on the distraction, hitting the Cross Rhodes to pin Orton and retain the title.

The celebration lasted about thirty seconds as Orton attacked Rhodes immediately after the match, executing a brutal punt kick. Rhodes seemed to suffer an eye injury as a direct result of that post-match assault.

During the WrestleMania 42 post-show, The American Nightmare was shown being attended to by medical staff at ringside, with his left eye completely swollen shut.

Cody Rhodes pulled out of his meet-and-greet following WrestleMania 42

Cody Rhodes was originally scheduled to appear at the WWE World on April 19 in Las Vegas for a meet-and-greet. However, it has now been canceled due to the injuries he sustained in the match at The Show of Shows.

Due to injuries sustained at WrestleMania Cody Rhodes is no longer able to make it to WWE World. Unfortunately, this means your photo op and/or autograph have been cancelled. [H/T RSN]

It remains to be seen whether he will after the post-Mania episode of SmackDown.

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