Cody Rhodes Not Finishing The Story At WWE WrestleMania 40
Cody Rhodes told the world when he returned to WWE that he was there to win a world title in the company, achieving the one thing his legendary father had never managed to do.
At that time there was only option in the company as on the same night Rhodes returned to the company Roman Reigns unified the WWE and Universal Championships by beating Brock Lesnar.
Rhodes won the men’s Royal Rumble in 2023 and many expected him to finish his story at WrestleMania 39 against Reigns but history was on the side of The Tribal Chief who went on to surpass 1,000 days as champion as a result of beating Rhodes and now one year on still holds that title.
In the meantime, Triple H re-introduced the World Heavyweight Championship into WWE with the admission that Reigns worked a part-time schedule and had proved unbeatable – with more than a little help from The Bloodline in nearly every outing.
Seth Rollins has held that title since it was brought back and he looked to be on a collision course with CM Punk. However, CM Punk suffered a nasty injury in the Royal Rumble that has seen him ruled out of WrestleMania while a knee injury suffered by Rollins means he’s unlikely to compete before the show of shows takes place on the 6th and 7th of April.
Cody Rhodes won the men’s Royal Rumble for a second time in 2024 giving himself another shot at finishing his story and during his celebration made it abundantly clear that he wanted to challenge Reigns once again for the gold. However, WWE appeared to pivot the next night on Raw whether through design or necessity and Seth Rollins put a spanner in the works.
Rollins told Rhodes that the title Reigns holds is the “Hollywood” belt and his father Dusty Rhodes would want him to hold a workhorse title such as the one Rollins holds. That caused The American Nightmare to pause for thought and he told everyone he’d have an answer on SmackDown.
Cody Rhodes Takes Back Seat To The Rock
When SmackDown came, the WWE Universe was in for a shock as Rhodes told Reigns that while he still wanted his title, now was not the time and that he had consulted family, friends, legends, and someone Reigns knew very well to make his decision.
That brought out The Rock who embraced Rhodes before going on to have a long-awaited showdown with Roman Reigns. Therefore it looks like the WrestleMania 40 main events will be Roman Reigns vs. The Rock and Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins.
Before WrestleMania 39, Cody Rhodes told Roman Reigns that he’d one day stand alone without The Usos, Solo Sikoa, or even Paul Heyman as a chief without a tribe and that would be when he fell. Reigns has still got Jimmy Uso, Sikoa, and Heyman believing in him so it seems that this story might not have even reached its seventh-inning stretch.
There has been talk of WWE wanting to update its record books recently as has been seen with Gunther becoming the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time. Fans of Cody Rhodes might want to look away as if WWE is intent on having Roman Reigns take Bruno Sammartino’s record as longest reigning world champion in company history it means Reigns will still be holding his title through to at least May 2026.