00:00 Have you ever been in the main event of WrestleMania before?
00:04 Because I'm pretty sure I've done all of that.
00:06 [MUSIC]
00:08 >> I'm not done, story is unfinished, but
00:11 a lot of good stories have a lot of pages.
00:14 [MUSIC]
00:17 >> The miracle.
00:18 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:21 >> Damn it, you need to acknowledge me.
00:25 >> Cody Rhodes, he became the first man in 26 years to win back to back
00:30 Royal Rumble matches.
00:32 Joining an elite class that includes Hulk Hogan,
00:36 Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
00:39 It came as a bit of a shock because a lot of people felt the odds on favorite going
00:43 in was the returning CM Punk.
00:45 And right behind him, the other favorite was Cody.
00:48 As for Cody, he has proved over the last couple of years exactly why WWE put him
00:53 in the spot he's in, jumping over from all wrestling.
00:57 You aren't going to see many people saying he doesn't deserve this or
01:01 hasn't earned it.
01:02 Of course, winning the Rumble means you get the world title match at Mania,
01:06 something Cody got to do last year in Los Angeles.
01:09 And it seems like we have no doubt about where he's going and
01:12 who he's going after.
01:14 The undisputed WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns,
01:19 watched from a suite above the stadium audience, captivated by
01:24 who awaits him as a challenger at the show of shows.
01:28 And it's Cody Rhodes who made it clear who he was going after.
01:32 [MUSIC]
01:35 >> Roman can't believe it.
01:37 [MUSIC]
01:40 >> There's a big difference between this story with Cody and
01:43 Roman this year as compared to last year.
01:45 When Cody and Roman began their road to WrestleMania 39 in California,
01:49 there was a formality to it at the beginning.
01:52 But the animosity was stirred by Roman and
01:55 of course his associate Paul Heyman provoking Cody's father's name.
02:00 >> You, Cody, were his favorite son.
02:05 >> The American dream, Dusty Rhodes, who decades earlier attempted and
02:12 through a technicality was not able to become WWE Champion.
02:16 >> But Roman Reigns was the son he always wanted.
02:21 >> [APPLAUSE] >> Of course,
02:23 these personal comments seethed into Cody, but he had a measured response.
02:29 It's almost like the animosity between Cody and
02:31 Roman intensified after their match at WrestleMania 39,
02:36 where Cody Rhodes was close to finishing the story set out by his father
02:41 decades before him to bring the title to the family mantle.
02:45 Only for Roman Reigns and
02:47 his family to retain it through another barrage of outside interference.
02:52 When is the last time Roman won a match with no interference from the bloodline?
02:57 Yeah, can we acknowledge that?
02:59 The following night on Monday Night Raw,
03:01 Cody Rhodes demanded an immediate rematch from Roman Reigns.
03:06 It was clear that they were setting the stage for
03:08 Roman to retain that title for a long time.
03:12 And by a long time, we mean all the way to WrestleMania 40.
03:15 I was at WrestleMania 39, walking out of sofa,
03:19 everyone knew that Roman was keeping that belt to at least another mania.
03:23 But recently there seemed to be a wrench thrown into the plans in the form of.
03:26 [SOUND] Finally, yes, Dwayne The Rock Johnson.
03:31 A few weeks before it was announced that he would become a board member of TKO,
03:36 the company that owns WWE, a majority of it, he dropped a bombshell.
03:40 Teasing a match against his fellow Samoan bloodline family member,
03:46 Roman Reigns, making it clear that he wanted to also be the head of the table.
03:51 Making everybody believe that Cody was no longer the main event man to challenge
03:56 at WrestleMania.
03:57 Once The Rock made the big media tour when he joined the board of TKO,
04:02 he kinda sorta teased the fact that he would prefer a slow burning or
04:07 cooking in this matter, longer build up to a match against Roman Reigns.
04:11 Proclaiming that it could be the biggest WrestleMania of all time,
04:16 which now might be WrestleMania 41 or maybe another show that isn't WrestleMania.
04:22 For one, The Rock versus Roman Reigns is having the undisputed
04:26 universal championship as a prize.
04:28 Isn't exactly reasonable when really the head of the table and that title and
04:34 who leads the family might be more of their motivation for
04:38 a personal clash and not just a championship clash.
04:42 Or maybe that's something we get on WrestleMania night too.
04:45 Yeah, Roman for two nights.
04:48 Secondly, it would have been extremely unfair to Cody Rhodes to take away the
04:51 spot that a lot of fans feel he has earned and they are invested in seeing him earn.
04:57 Can you imagine another year of Roman Reigns as a universal champion?
05:01 Because the entire bloodline story has just about reached its peak at
05:06 the end of SummerSlam 2023.
05:09 Some people thought it peaked there, but it's still been going.
05:12 The machine of WWE is still red hot and
05:14 Roman Reigns is still one of the central figures in it.
05:17 But how much longer can they keep it going?
05:19 In the modern era of media consumption, can you stretch it out that long?
05:24 Getting back to the central point here, Cody and Roman.
05:27 WWE should get their flowers for how they've handled this since WrestleMania.
05:33 Some people are fickle and say, gimme, gimme, gimme now.
05:37 Well, WWE knows that, as you see with Rock and Roman,
05:41 the long tease with the big payoff means a whole lot.
05:46 They've been limited to a handful of selective interactions between these two
05:51 titans and the big clash, the big rematch means more
05:56 because of the distance that has been put between them.
05:59 With one mainly being on Raw and one mainly being on SmackDown.
06:03 Unlike last year, there's a lot to play off of.
06:06 The distance has now been closed and
06:09 we're likely to get a whole two months of build up this time around.
06:14 Overall, this may be one of the most exciting WrestleMania cards we've seen
06:19 in years, with just two months remaining before the grandest stage of them all.
06:24 We could be set for truly one of the greatest roads to a WrestleMania
06:28 we've seen in quite some time.
06:31 Roads, like Cody Rhodes, get it?
06:34 For Cody Rhodes, it is time to finish his story.
06:38 His family's story finishes in Philadelphia.
06:42 It is simple, it is straightforward, it is storytelling, completion, and
06:47 satisfaction at his finest.
06:50 A pristine moment in the city of brotherly love, and he gets to win it all.
06:59 He ends the biggest title reign in modern wrestling history.
07:05 He sends Roman Reigns down from his mountain of majestic manipulation of
07:11 those around him, the master of puppets gets his strings cut out, and
07:17 Cody Rhodes finishes the story.
07:20 That's what we need to see at WrestleMania 40.
07:25 Just imagine the reaction, the pure collective electricity when Cody
07:31 pins Roman and ends this title reign and
07:35 becomes the undisputed WWE Universal Champion.
07:40 Unless, of course, WWE decides they want more Roman Reigns and
07:45 he's gotta break Hulk Hogan's 1,474 day reign as WWE Champion.
07:50 He's gotta break a record.
07:51 That's the whole reason they would want him to keep a title at the biggest show
07:55 of the year.
07:55 Stop saying that like it's absolutely a defining factor of this whole thing,
08:00 brother.
08:01 But it's unlikely to happen.
08:02 It seems like all roads lead to a new champion at WrestleMania 40.
08:07 We could be wrong.
08:08 There's no better time and place for
08:09 the story to finally be completed, though, than WrestleMania.
08:13 What do you think?
08:14 Let us know in the comments below.
08:16 Does it need to end for Roman?
08:18 Is Cody the right guy?
08:20 Sound off.
08:21 [MUSIC]
08:31 [MUSIC]
Comments