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WWE May Have Subtly Revealed Cody Rhodes’ Next Challenger
Cody Rhodes may start a rivalry with Sami Zayn next.
On the October 31, 2025, episode of WWE SmackDown, a notable backstage segment unfolded involving Sami Zayn and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. The conversation saw The American Nightmare praising Sami Zayn for doing well with the U.S. Championship, and the two shared a moment. But at the same time, a hint of tension could also be seen between them.
Sami Zayn Has His Eyes Set On Cody Rhodes’ WWE Undisputed Championship
While it wasn’t an outright confrontation, Sam Roberts believes this could set the tone for a growing rivalry in the near future. Speaking on his Notsam Wrestling podcast, Roberts highlighted how Zayn was almost looking at Rhodes’ title with a look that suggested he might go after it soon.
“If you look at SmackDown this week, Cody Rhodes complimented Sami Zayn on his reign as United States Champion. Sami Zayn appreciated and accepted the compliment, but Sami did the belt look. The same look that Jey Uso gave the title, the same look that Randy Orton gave the title, Sami Zayn gave the title, the same look.”And if you look at the promo between Nick Aldis and Cody Rhodes after Sami Zayn left, Cody keeps looking over his shoulder like, “What the hell was that?” Like he noticed that Sami Zayn had done something. He noticed that Sami Zayn had given his title that look. Is he looking at my girl? What was that?”“Why’d he say hi like that? That’s what Cody Rhodess was doing. It was almost like Cody Rhodess wanted to look directly at Sami Zayn and to say “ENOUGH”. I got it now. Enough. But he was not there yet. What if Sami Zayn is the next victim of a Cody Rhodes “ENOUGH” (From 50:47)
Zayn lost the United States Championship on the October 17 edition of Friday Night SmackDown when Ilja Dragunov returned and dethroned him to become the new champion.
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