Details Why Cody Rhodes Won WWE Royal Rumble

An insight has been given as to why Cody Rhodes picked up the victory on his return at the Royal Rumble.

Whilst it was known in advance that ‘The American Nightmare’ was going to be making his in-ring return at the 2023 Royal Rumble, it wasn’t until entrant 29 came out that people knew he would be the final man to enter the squared circle. Finally narrowing the field to just Rhodes and Gunther, who had gone from first position in the match, it was Rhodes who would win and continue on to a match with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39.

However, it would seem that WWE have not had it set in stone that Cody Rhodes was the right man to move on to ‘The Showcase Of The Immortals’, and would have looked at a number of other options before making their decision.

A new report from Dave Meltzer at The Wrestling Observer has discussed the other avenues WWE could have taken instead of ‘The American Nightmare’, but also explained that there is logic behind Rhodes getting the shot even if he wasn’t the only choice.

The issue got so hot that from a fans perspective, Reigns-Zayn and really a title change for the singles belt would have been the perfect climax to the angle.

This was acknowledged by a few internally that they didn’t see coming in how hot this would be, and it should be changed, but were also told that neither Vince McMahon nor Paul Levesque saw Zayn as a guy who could headline WrestleMania and that the scenario of Zayn challenging in Montreal and moving it to WrestleMania because he got hot, which WWE did previously for Kofi Kingston when he got hot and got the spot planned for Owens in 2019 was not going to happen.

Plus, the entire storyline that brought Rhodes to WWE did almost have to result in him winning the title his father never could win. But that didn’t have to take place at Mania, just had to take place at some time. The fact WWE wanted Dwayne Johnson in the spot, and even contacted Steve Austin for the spot, tells you they weren’t married to the idea of Rhodes having to headline the show or win the title, at least from Reigns.

Knowing that he’ll be heading to WrestleMania 39, Cody Rhodes has now invited NFL legend Tom Brady to join him at the event.