When Cody Rhodes challenged Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 39, many felt that ‘The American Nightmare’ was the odds-on favourite to claim victory and ascend to the top of the WWE mountain.
The build to the monumental title clash at SoFi Stadium had a strong focus on Cody Rhodes’ desire to ‘finish the story’ and achieve what his Father, the legendary late WWE Hall Of Famer ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes, didnt during his career and that is to claim the WWE’s top prize.
And whilst most pundits, including the likes of Kurt Angle, have expressed their surprise at the booking, another WWE Hall Of Famer and current WWE Executive has defended the decision for Reigns to retain the gold.
Road Dogg feels WWE made the right call at WrestleMania 39
WWE Senior Vice President Of Live Events Brian James, best known as D-Generation X’s ‘Road Dogg’ Jesse James, has been speaking about the hotly debated WrestleMania finish, and believes that the defeat is merely the closing of a chapter for Rhodes rather than the end of his title chase.
Speaking recently on his ‘Oh…You Didn’t Know?’ podcast, the WWE Hall Of Famer believes that a Rhodes victory would not have represented smart business:
“The argument is a legitimate one to go back now that history has told that story and go, ‘Okay. Should he have got it then? Should he won it then?’ Like, man, I don’t think that’s smart business. I think that’s great booking if you’re a fan, but I don’t think it’s smart business. If you tell the story and go, ‘The end,’ close the book. Then, ‘Okay, now we got to start over,’ I just feel like this was just a chapter closing.
He came in, and this has been said by some people that speak about wrestling that kinda know what they’re talking about, he came in, and he had no adversity. He went right through the Rumble, right through everybody, and right to the champion. So the argument could be made, ‘Man if you just give it to him now, did he earn it?’
Yes, he has over the extension of his career, for sure, if you can tell that whole story, and they have tried to tell that whole story as much as they could if you see in the promos, they talk a lot about what all he’s done because that’s a really cool part of his story is what he has accomplished in this industry. By himself, you know what I mean? Like, I mean, yes, he’s had some help. Yes, his father was a wrestler, his brother, all that. Man, he came in and changed the game a little bit, and kudos to him for that.
So really, it’s a bigger picture conversation. Whether he has the title around his waist right now or not, let’s just stop and think about what Cody’s done and accomplished from a human standpoint. Holy mackerel, this dude’s an entrepreneur in the industry of sports entertainment, and that has never existed before.”
H/T: Fightful for the above transcription