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Cody Rhodes Addresses French Crowd After WWE SmackDown (VIDEO)

By John Canton • Published 4th May 2024
Cody Rhodes WWE Title Promo

Cody Rhodes loved the vocal French crowd at SmackDown and urged them to bring that same energy to Backlash as well.

In the main event of WWE Backlash France in Lyon, Cody Rhodes will defend the Undisputed WWE Championship for the first time on television. The opponent will be a former WWE Champion AJ Styles, whom Cody has never faced before.

On the final Smackdown episode before Backlash, Cody Rhodes and AJ Styles shared the ring for a Face to Face promo segment. During that promo exchange, Styles talked about his long journey just to get to WWE and how nobody helped him get to the top. Styles also mentioned that when Cody won the WWE Title, he had help from legends and Hall of Famers who Styles has beaten in his career.

Cody responded to that Styles promo saying that he didn’t understand why Styles was disrespecting Cody’s accomplishments. Cody paid respect to Styles while wanting to do a “too sweet” hand gesture to pay tribute to their Bullet Club past, but Styles refused that and instead slapped Cody in the face. The vocal French crowd, who were very loud during the promo exchange, didn’t like that.

What Did Cody Rhodes Tell The French Crowd After Smackdown?

After Smackdown went off the air, Cody Rhodes competed in a dark match against Shinsuke Nakamura, which Cody won obviously. After that match, Cody addressed the crowd in a video posted to WWE’s Digital and social media channels.

“Are you guys ready for Backlash? Hopefully, you can understand me. If not, forgive me. Question for the audience. Who was here when WWE came to Paris? I don’t know if you remember what I told you, but what I said was, if you stay that loud, if you stay that proud, WWE will bring a PLE to France. Tonight is the first time in my entire career where, during an interview segment, I could not hear myself. I could not hear AJ Styles. I gotta be honest, I loved it.”

“Please, I know you’ve seen me twice already. You’ve been wonderful. But I’m gonna give you every single thing I have in my body tomorrow against AJ Styles. What I ask in return, France, is you to do the same, and we do this together. How do you say it in French? I love you. I mean it from the bottom of my heart, guys. I love you very much. Enjoy tomorrow.”

“This is your PLE. If you bring the same energy you had today, and you bring it tomorrow, who’s to say another PLE doesn’t come to France? God bless you. I want to quickly think this wonderful crew, who’s standing by, waiting. Samantha [Irvin], who’s been willing it all night long. God bless you guys. Enjoy this evening. I cannot wait to see each and every one of you tomorrow. Have a great night. Take care of one another. I love you. Be safe, guys. Good night.”

The full Backlash France card is below.

* Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. AJ Styles

* World Heavyweight Championship: Damian Priest (c) vs. Jey Uso

* WWE Women’s Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Naomi vs. Tiffany Stratton

* The Bloodline – Solo Sikoa & Tama Tonga vs. Randy Orton & Kevin Owens

* Women’s Tag Team Championships: Kabuki Warriors – Asuka & Kairi Sane (c) vs. Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill

You can watch Backlash France, streaming live on Saturday, May 4, at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on Peacock in the United States and on WWE Network everywhere else.

H/T Fightful