Cody Rhodes has admitted that his sudden roster switch was somewhat surprising.
Following his return to WWE in 2022, The American Nightmare has been predominantly a member of the Raw roster and only appeared on Friday nights sparingly. However, following his triumph over Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40, the new Undisputed Champion is now the face of SmackDown and was moved over to the blue brand shortly before the draft as the majority of the champions were ineligible for drafting and locked to their respective brand.
Speaking on a media call on X ahead of Backlash, Rhodes was asked who his dream opponents are now that he is the champion. While admitting that he was moved off Raw quicker than he expected to be, Rhodes named someone he has held tag tam gold with as an opponent he wants to face down the road:
“Well, I think in terms of working with them, I really said it, you know, my Raw exit kind of happened quicker than perhaps I was ready for it to happen. And maybe that’s the best. The Draft is what the rules set. I’m on SmackDown. The guy, he actually hilariously just opened the door to this room as I was answering this question, Jey Uso, you can join if you’d like, I look forward to working with him because I feel like we just touched upon maybe some chemistry just entering the ability to compete and to cook to perform.
So I was really happy for him being one of the faces if not the main face of Monday Night Raw. Now along with Damian Priest, of course, your brand new World Champion. But then here’s somebody just looking down the road, and I can’t look past AJ Styles because the scary thing about AJ Styles is that he’s not the match you would call for after this epic, long-form situation that I’ve had with Roman Reigns and The Bloodline. You kind of wish you had a freebie, and there are no freebies here. So I can’t look past AJ Styles.”
At Backlash, Rhodes successfully defended the Undisputed Championship against AJ Styles.
Cody Rhodes Achieved Desired Goal At WWE Backlash
Although the match between Rhodes and Styles was a first-time-ever encounter, The American Nightmare knew that a match against The Phenomenal One was always going to be a tough test. Ahead of the match, Cody Rhodes explained why he couldn’t settle for anything less than a dominant victory.
H/t to Wrestling News.co