WWE legend addresses critics of Cody Rhodes' title reign
Cody Rhodes has held the Undisputed WWE Championship since defeating Roman Reigns for the title at WrestleMania XL on April 7. Following The American Nightmare's latest match, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff explained why fans should reserve judgment on his title reign so far.
Rhodes' first televised title defense came against AJ Styles at Backlash France on May 4. He followed up that victory with a win over Logan Paul at King and Queen of the Ring in Saudi Arabia on May 25.
Some critics believe Rhodes' tenure as champion has not lived up to the hype since he overcame Reigns and The Bloodline. However, on his 83 Weeks show, Bischoff said it is difficult to immediately create another story as compelling as the WrestleMania title win.
"If you're honest and you're not being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian, how do you top that? For a young babyface. 'Oh yeah, that's right, he left WWE and now he's come back.' I mean, there was so many layers, and thick layers, not just thin layers, thick layers of amazing story. Is this as good as that? No! Because that's impossible, and even if it was possible, you would get tired of it," said Bischoff [55:06 – 55:41]
Since WrestleMania XL, Cody Rhodes has defended his title in non-televised matches against AJ Styles, Dominik Mysterio, and Shinsuke Nakamura. He also defeated Carmelo Hayes in a non-title bout on the April 26 episode of SmackDown.
Eric Bischoff predicts the next step in Cody Rhodes' title reign
The build-up to WrestleMania XL revolved around Cody Rhodes becoming the first member of his legendary family to win a WWE world title. The storyline also involved The Rock, whose heel turn heading into the event shone an even bigger spotlight on the 38-year-old.
With The Rock currently away from WWE to film a movie, Eric Bischoff thinks another heel will emerge as a top contender for Rhodes' title:
"You can't keep it up here all the time. As we get a little bit of an emotional relief for the time being, when it's time to kick it into gear again, and you've got that heel that's chasing that babyface, and now people really care about that babyface, it'll matter again. But to expect that you're gonna have a WrestleMania-level of emotional investment 52 weeks a year, it's just not reality. And you wouldn't even want it if it was real," said Bischoff. [56:26 – 56:53]
Bischoff also gave his thoughts on Gunther and Randy Orton's controversial King of the Ring finish.
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Please credit 83 Weeks and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.