After winning the 2023 men’s Rumble Royal match, Cody Rhodes has an opportunity of a lifetime to become the WWE Undisputed Universal Champion at Wrestlemania, but the road does not get easy for The American Nightmare as his opponent, Roman Reigns, is on a different level than anybody else in Professional Wrestling.
Cody Rhodes, who recently just won the 2023 men’s Royal Rumble match, will be in the main event at Wrestlemania 39 against the top dog of the company, the Tribal Chief, the Head of the Table, Roman Reigns for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship. Ever since coming back to the WWE last year at Wrestlemania 38, Cody Rhodes was on a mission of becoming World Champion in no time. However, just like in any sport an injury would come up, and Rhodes’ triumphant return was short lived. In case you didn’t know, Cody Rhodes suffered a torn pectoral last June. In fact, Rhodes actually wrestled through the injury in a Hell in a Cell match against one of the very best wrestlers in the entire world, Seth Rollins. After a 40 minute instant classic match, Rhodes gained enormous respect, admiration and love from the fans, his peers and higher authorities in the WWE of his courageous but insane performance. After a heroic performance, his injury would be too much to handle as Rhodes would be out of action for the next 8 months. This performance alone will forever be remembered for Cody Rhodes’ pure resiliency, grit, determination, and stamping his mark as one of the very top guys.
Here are a few reasons why I believe Cody Rhodes will be the one to defeat Roman Reigns:
1. Fulfilling His Father’s Legacy: Cody Rhodes’ family is super well-known in professional wrestling. His father, the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes, was one of the biggest stars in professional wrestling in the 1970’s to 1980’s. Dusty Rhodes, who was portrayed as a common-man, was an inspiration to every low-middle class family that were going through similar struggles that Dusty Rhodes would talk about in his promos. Dusty would cut promos about his own family, struggles, going through hard times, creating a dream and fighting for your dream, and trying to taste that success in America was a big dream that never was. From feuding with “Superstar” Billy Graham to the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Dusty’s charisma and affection with the fans made him one of the greatest good guys of all-time. Despite winning the NWA World Title 3 times, Dusty was unable to win the WWE Champion during his WWE run. With his son, Cody Rhodes, winning the 2023 men’s Royal Rumble, Rhodes’ destiny finally awaits at Wrestlemania to proclaim what he needs to do for himself, for his family and for his future family to finally claim the WWE Championship in his family lineage. Nobody in the Rhodes’ family has ever been the WWE Champion, Rhodes has an opportunity of a lifetime to end that historic drought at Wrestlemania. After all of these years, it has alluded the Rhodes’ of tasting the biggest dream of ’em all, which in this case is achieving the WWE Championship. Will Cody Rhodes break that curse at Wrestlemania of taking down Roman Reigns?
2. Completing His Own Story: Undoubtedly, this is the biggest match in Cody Rhodes’ career. For Roman Reigns, this is just another Wrestlemania match for him, it’s just another main event match for him, it’s just another world title defense for him. However, the passion inside of Cody Rhodes is simply undeniable. Roman Reigns may think it’ll be a walk in the park but not at Rhodes’ expense of capturing what is rightfully his from the very beginning of this inspirational comeback journey. For fulfilling his father’s initial quest, and now making it his own personal dream, of becoming WWE Champion is seemingly bound to happen. It is a matter of when it happens rather than if it happens.
3. A Resurrected Career: After getting released by the WWE in 2016, Cody Rhodes was instantly the biggest independent wrestler on the planet. He made a list of wrestlers he wanted to have a match. By doing so, he would put on instant classic matches after instant classic matches with many top tier wrestlers from different companies to claim his stake as one of the best professional wrestlers in today’s era. This would put Rhodes’ own name, status and growth on the radar once again as one of the hottest free agents that any wrestling companies would want. Thanks to his release, Rhodes found a newfound love for professional wrestling, fans were on his side and rooted for him as he climbed the ladder of independent success, and it all culminated with Cody Rhodes being one of the founding fathers of a new wrestling company in All Elite Wrestling (AEW). With all of the monumental accomplishments that Cody Rhodes had achieved, it wasn’t enough as he knew that deep down he had unfinished business in the WWE. Cody Rhodes knew he needed to become the wrestler, the performer and the superstar that he ultimately would be now if he hadn’t took the risk to reinvent, reestablish and revamp his entire identity from a mid-card level wrestler that did not had much to prove to now other than being in the shadows of his father, Dusty Rhodes, to being a legit contender for a world championship in no time as well as being one of the faces that can usher in a new era that fans can gravitate towards to.
4. It’s Time For A New Face: The resurgence of Cody Rhodes has been one of the best success stories in quite some time. From getting released to becoming a top-tier competitor, it’s just a matter of time when Rhodes will hoist the WWE Champion (WWE Undisputed Universal Champion) over a beaten Roman Reigns. Despite Roman Reigns’ massive ability of being a big time draw and selling out arenas/stadiums worldwide, Cody Rhodes also has that it-factor of becoming a draw that fans resonate with. Going back to his family’s lineage and to his main mission of obtaining the big belt, Rhodes is certainly more than ready to take over as the new face of the WWE.
5. Roman’s Reign Will be Numbered: “A man without a family, a roman with no more reigns, a chief without a tribe.” When Cody Rhodes defeats Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania, a fallout of The Bloodline will happen as each member will leave Roman Reigns. As the dust settles within The Bloodline, Reigns will have no choice but to taste defeat for the very first time in well over 3 years. With all due respect, Roman Reigns’ reign of his current reign as the WWE Undisputed Universal Champion will eventually end. History states that every record will be broken, however every record must be beaten in order to have those records in the record books in the first place. Although Roman’s current reign is at an all-time high of many other historic title reigns with the likes of Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan and Bob Backlund, it is bound to end soon… and the fans can sense it too. Cody Rhodes will look to capture his very first world championship in the expense of Roman’s historic reign. Who is truly left for Reigns to defeat? Heck, who is truly capable to even defeat Reigns at this point? It surely has to be Cody Rhodes. The only real answer is Cody Rhodes. The only one left that is viable and is legit to take down the Tribal Chief, is Cody Rhodes. Do you think it’s time for Roman Reigns to lose the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship at Wrestlemania?
Those are the many reasons why I think Cody Rhodes should and could defeat Roman Reigns at the biggest stage of them all, Wrestlemania. Do you agree with the idea of Rhodes defeating Reigns? Would you like to see Reigns continue his record setting reign as the WWE Undisputed Universal Champion? Let me know your thoughts as this is one of the more anticipated matchups at Wrestlemania in recent history.
