Cody Rhodes’ WWE Heel Turn Coming At WrestleMania? Here Are The Signs

WWE has been teasing Cody Rhodes’ potential heel turn for a while now, and WWE analyst Sam Roberts believes it could happen at WrestleMania 42.

Speaking on his Notsam Wrestling emergency podcast following Elimination Chamber, Roberts discussed Randy Orton’s Elimination Chamber victory and Cody Rhodes receiving another opportunity at Drew McIntyre’s Undisputed WWE Championship on SmackDown this week.

While breaking down the storyline, Roberts suggested that WWE could be laying the groundwork for Cody Rhodes’ heel turn based on recent storytelling cues and overall booking logic.

Why WrestleMania Could Mark the End of Cody Rhodes’ Babyface Run

Roberts noted that Cody has been WWE’s top babyface for several years now, and WrestleMania 42 could be the ideal stage for a character shift to keep things fresh.

Roberts also pointed out that Cody Rhodes’ character has appeared increasingly desperate in recent weeks. He has been portrayed as more emotional, dejected, and obsessed with needing to get to WrestleMania and holding on to the championship, which could signal a gradual move toward a heel character:

I don’t believe that there’s any way to get to just simply Cody Rhodes versus Drew McIntyre. Randy Orton has to be fighting for that WWE Championship. He has to be. And I think in a fatal four-way between Cody, Drew, Jacob, and Randy, the story is the least about Randy. And I hate the idea of the story being just the least about Randy Orton in any Randy Orton match, but the story being least about the person that won the Elimination Chamber. If you win the Elimination Chamber, that match should be about you. Rhea Ripley won the Elimination Chamber. Her match with Jade Cargill is about Jade Cargill as champion and Rhea Ripley is the challenger.

So, I mean, the idea that Cody Rhodes can win the WWE Championship and then realize that the match is finally going to happen, that we’re finally getting Cody Rhodes versus Randy Orton, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, to tell you the truth. You know, we watched Elimination Chamber, we did the WWE Now podcast. We’re kind of talking about everything that happened. And I’ll be honest, my first instinct was, I guess, multi-man match.

And I think that that would be fine. I don’t think that that would be a bad thing. But if you held me up against the wall and said you have to pick one, what do you think is the better way to go?

The more I talk about it with you right now, the more—and this is a feelings podcast. We will have the analytics on Monday. We will be able to sit down and we will write and we will hash it all out on Monday. And I am interested in your comments on this one. I’m interested in what you think on this one.

Randy Orton wins that Elimination Chamber match. Cody is dejected. Cody now gets the shot against Drew McIntyre. I think the fact that the boss gave Cody the shot against Drew McIntyre.

I think that the fact that Cody looks so dejected and wants to be at WrestleMania so bad and once again gets to go in as champion.

I think that if it were up to me right now, I end night one of WrestleMania with Cody Rhodes retaining the WWE Championship against Randy Orton and Cody turning heel at WrestleMania.

I think that that’s where I go. Cody returned at WrestleMania 38 as the biggest babyface in the world, and it took him all the way to 39, to 40, to 41. Biggest babyface in the world. Biggest babyface in the world. So 38 to 39, that’s one year, two years, three years, four years in—four years of this massive babyface run that’s as effective as anything has ever been.

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