Former WWE name might return after 7-year absence to confront Roman Reigns on SmackDown tonight
By the time Night of Champions rolls around, Roman Reigns will have spent over 1000 days as the WWE Universal Champion. But before that can take place, he might be confronted by a former AEW star.
The star in question is Brandi Rhodes, who was last seen in WWE in 2016, where she worked as a ring announcer under the name Eden. She was granted her release from the company just a few days after her husband, Cody Rhodes, was let go.
Since then, Brandi has gone on to be an in-ring performer, wrestling for the likes of IMPACT, Ring of Honor, and eventually AEW, where she also developed her promo abilities and became notorious for not holding back while on the mic.
2 years ago today.
Jade Cargill made her AEW debut and Brandi Rhodes cut the promo of her life. https://t.co/dAxKxDBrva
The reason why Brandi could be the one to confront Roman Reigns and not Cody is that The American Nightmare is on RAW and preoccupied with Brock Lesnar trying to make his life miserable.
By having Brandi confront The Tribal Chief, it can at least continue the story that Cody was unable to finish at WrestleMania 39, keeping that feud alive so that both men have something to work towards for shows like Summer Slam and beyond.
It's very unlikely that Roman Reigns would attack Brandi, but if someone like Solo Sikoa delivered a Samoan Spike to her while Cody is not there, it will add more fuel to the fire and make his eventual win that much sweeter.
Roman Reigns referenced AEW during his initial feud with Cody Rhodes
One of the things that Cody's opponents have drawn upon since his return to WWE in 2022 is the fact that he started AEW. While no one on RAW or SmackDown has outright said "All Elite Wrestling" on TV, it has been referenced in the past.
Seth Rollins made a reference to AEW during his feud with Cody, as did Roman Reigns in the build-up to WrestleMania 39, where The Tribal Chief claimed that Rhodes started a company in which he "couldn't get over in" so he ran away.
“You didn't want to do the Stardust thing, so you ran away, you ran away and you started a promotion and a company that you couldn't get over in and then you ran away” #WWERaw
https://t.co/7Rnb1levZV
Cody himself referenced AEW on a recent episode of RAW that took place in Jacksonville, Florida, where The American Nightmare stated that he made a lot of good memories in Jacksonville during the COVID-19 pandemic. AEW was forced to produce all of its shows at Daily's Place during the pandemic, which is very close to where RAW took place on May 8th.
What other AEW references do you remember? Let us know in the comments section down below!