Cody Rhodes Not Worried About One Thing Ahead Of Gunther Match At WWE Clash In Italy
Cody Rhodes retained his Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania 42 by beating Randy Orton.
Since then, he had been awaiting his next challenger. On May 1, he faced Ricky Saints, who made his main roster debut on SmackDown, in a singles match.
Through his dominant performance, The American Nightmare proved why he was the champion on the blue brand. However, as he celebrated, Gunther blindsided him and applied the dreaded chokehold, putting Cody Rhodes to sleep.
It was later confirmed that The Ring General had jumped brands and was now a talent on SmackDown. The next couple of weeks were spent convincing the Austrian superstar to sign a contract for a title match between them at Clash in Italy.
Gunther secured his spot as the challenger by defeating Royce Keys on May 15. During the May 22 taping, Gunther once again jumped Rhodes, this time after the latter’s singles match against Sami Zayn.
Despite calling himself Rhodes’ friend, Zayn did not prevent the attack, leaving the champion to his fate.
Gunther Labels Europe His Home Turf
Gunther believes that, unlike the United States, he will head into Clash in Italy with an advantage, as it takes place in Europe, where he’s from.
The 38-year-old’s comments came during an interview with the Italian Wrestling Channel, where he was asked about the possibility of the crowd supporting him instead of Cody Rhodes.
To this, Gunther replied by claiming that he was wrestling on his home turf and fans from Germany and Austria would boost his morale.
We’ll see. Well, obviously when in Europe, that’s my home turf, and we’ll see. Happened similar before, but it’s nothing that shakes me or something. I even think that it makes it a little more interesting, to be honest. Might feel a little bit of a away game for Cody.
Cody Rhodes Refutes Gunther’s Home Turf Claim
It is possible that Cody Rhodes was made aware of Gunther’s interview, where he called Europe his home turf.
While speaking on ESPN’s Get Up ahead of Clash in Paris, the 40-year-old said that he did not believe Gunther was wrestling in his home turf because Europe is not a monolith and Gunther was not from Italy either.
The American Nightmare further hoped that the Italian crowd would be a raucous one, like in France.
I don’t think it’s his home turf. This is an Austrian. This is Clash In Italy. They are not the same places. Europe is not a monolith.
I actually think that he’s of the impression that this will be an away game for me. I don’t think that. I think Italy will be a crowd like France was. Loudest WWE crowd imaginable.
Gunther will contest for the Undisputed WWE Championship for the first time at Clash in Italy. Cody Rhodes, meanwhile, has won the title thrice.
The Ring General has won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship twice as a member of the Raw roster. Between 2019 and 2021, he served as the NXT United Kingdom Champion for 870 days.