WWE reportedly has an interesting plan for Cody Rhodes
While The Rock vs. Roman Reigns has not been made official yet, the WWE Universe is already showing their dismay at the company's booking decision.
Cody Rhodes won the 2024 Men's Royal Rumble, which made him the first superstar in over two decades to win back-to-back Rumble matches. On the fallout edition of SmackDown, The American Nightmare seemingly gave his shot at Reigns to The Great One.
The confrontation between the Samoans became the most disliked video on WWE's YouTube channel. Furthermore, a "#WeWantCody" rally has been going strong on social media. According to renowned journalist Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter, this was indeed part of the plan.
Meltzer claimed that the company expected Rhodes to get a "Daniel Bryan-like" fan reaction. This was reportedly one of the major reasons why they pivoted to The Rock vs. Roman Reigns at the Show of Shows, to make The American Nightmare an even bigger babyface than he is already.
Reigns vs. Rhodes II had already been a mandatory dream match to the vast majority of the fanbase following WrestleMania 39. It was reported yesterday that WWE has been monitoring the negative reactions to Cody being snubbed from WrestleMania 40's main event.
Is there another reason for WWE to throw a curveball amid all this calamity?
After TKO brought in The Rock as a member of the board and the announcement that WWE is moving to Netflix from 2025 onwards, Vince McMahon was accused of s*x trafficking, among other things, by former employee Janel Grant. It was also reported by VICE that more trouble could be coming in Mr. McMahon's way.
WWE Hall of Famer Diamond Dallas Page, a personal friend of Cody Rhodes, recently spoke to Sportskeeda Wrestling's Senior Editor Bill Apter, bringing up some valid points as to why The American Nightmare should carry WWE forward:
"We all know there's been a little adversity, a little dark cloud right now, and I don't know what happened there," DDP said. "I wasn't there, I don't know, but I'll tell you what I do know. When you have anything like that happen, who are you looking at now to represent the company? I don't think there's a better person that can represent the company [than Cody Rhodes]. Family values, work ethic is like insane. All of his belts say, 'Do the work.'"
DDP also called back to Cody Rhodes wrestling Seth Rollins inside Hell in a Cell with a torn pec:
"Wrestling with a torn pec! And went 20 minutes with one of the greatest wrestlers ever, like I said, Seth Rollins, and made it through and came back from that injury and to get this spot. I mean, I can't think of a better person at the company you would wanna see."
You can watch the full video above for more of the exclusive interview we did with Diamond Dallas Page, as he talks about several topics, including Bron Breakker's surprise appearance at the Royal Rumble and Jade Cargill's in-ring debut.