When Cody Rhodes walked to the ring in front of a packed SoFi Stadium for the main event of WrestleMania 39, he stood on the brink of destiny.
Or so it appeared.
As his match with Roman Reigns progressed, the American Nightmare was forced to fight off not only the Tribal Chief but Solo Siko and resident Wise Man, Paul Heyman. When all was said and done, the odds were too big for even Rhodes to overcome and he left without the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
Just a day later, Rhodes appeared on Raw, out for revenge. The star called for a rematch but was denied. Instead being granted a tag team match with Reigns and Sikoa, with the caveat that his opponent had to have competed at WrestleMania, and upon accepting the match they would be unable to challenge Reigns for the World Title in the future.
This brought out Brock Lesnar, who is already excluded from challenging Reigns thanks to his loss to the Head of the Table at SummerSlam.
Fast forward to the main event, and the match never even started. As the introductions ended, Lesnar attacked Rhodes, leaving a stunned Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa to head backstage. The Beast utterly demolished Rhodes, delivering multiple F-5’s, including one through the announce table and another onto the steel steps.
The show went off the air with Lesnar giving a double one-fingered salute to Adam Pearce, Cody Rhodes, and the utter carnage that lay in the ring.
Cody Rhodes Refuses To Leave On A Stretcher
After the show ended, Rhodes was attended to in the ring, as medics attempted to place him in a neck brace and onto a stretcher. However, the star remained defiant and shrugged off the attention of officials, refusing both the neck brace and the stretcher.
In the end, Rhodes slowly made his way backstage under his own steam to applause from everyone in the arena.