Cody Rhodes Survives Kevin Owens After Vicious Streak Fails At WWE Bash In Berlin
Cody Rhodes survived Kevin Owens to retain his WWE Championship at Bash In Berlin but the real story was Owens failing to find his killer instinct.
Cody Rhodes retained his Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam as he survived Bloodline Rules against Solo Sikoa. For Bash In Berlin on the horizon, The American Nightmare had a major say in his next challenger.
SmackDown in Tulsa opened with Cody Rhodes but he was quickly interrupted by Solo Sikoa and The Bloodline with Sikoa demanding a rematch for the title after Roman Reigns got involved in his SummerSlam match. Rhodes called Sikoa delusional for wanting a rematch and refused the offer but as The Bloodline circled, Kevin Owens appeared with a steel chair to see them off.
Cody Rhodes then turned to Owens and said he didn’t want to make things awkward but Owens had his back during the battles with The Bloodline and offered to face him with the Undisputed WWE Championship on the line at Bash In Berlin.
Owens turned down the offer but Rhodes insisted that he’d be speaking to SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis and explaining exactly why he wanted to face Owens.
Later in the show, Cody Rhodes was seen discussing the issue with Aldis before Kevin Owens interrupted. Owens again protested getting a title shot until Aldis noted that he was considering naming Roman Reigns as the number one contender. Still war-weary from his battles with Reigns, Kevin Owens countered that Reigns did not deserve a title match and that Aldis could open the door to the locker room and find anyone deserving of that place. Aldis told Owens he didn’t need to go to the locker room as he made the match official.
Kevin Owens Takes Cody Rhodes To His Limit In Berlin
At Bash In Berlin, Cody Rhodes found himself in the unusual position of opening the show as his bout with Owens kicked off proceedings. Owens had warned Rhodes he knew about his apparent knee injury picked up on the recent European tour but when it reared its head late on in the match, Owens refused to capitalise before also refusing to powerbomb his friend on the ring apron.
That ultimately proved to be Owens’ undoing as Rhodes survived two Stunners before hitting his challenger with Cross Rhodes and the referee counted the eins, zwei, drei for Rhodes to retain his Undisputed WWE Championship.
Owens was clearly frustrated after the match but embraced Cody Rhodes and raised his hand as their friendship looks to continue on SmackDown.