After winning the 2023 Royal Rumble, Cody Rhodes had his sights set on capturing the top prize in WWE, something that eluded both his father and brother during their time with the sports entertainment giant.
Rhodes was in for the fight of his life as Roman Reigns has been Universal Champion for nearly 1000 days, smashing all modern title reigns records in the process. In the end, Reigns continued his record-breaking title run when he defeated Rhodes in the main event of night two of WrestleMania 39, dashing Cody Rhodes’s hopes of finishing his story of becoming champion.
While the decision to have Reigns defeat Rhodes has been heavily criticized by fans, WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin believes it was the right decision as having Rhodes victorious in his first title attempt could be seen as “cliche.”
Speaking during a recent appearance on Busted Open, Austin opened up about his feelings on the WrestleMania main event, saying that a win for Cody would have worked against him rather than taken him to the next level.
“Cody beating Roman would not have gotten Cody over anymore. As a matter of fact, it might have worked against him. The way they had it set up, he showed the belt, his wife and beautiful baby are there he’s holding the baby and it’s a storybook ending and the story is told. Those guys came out there with the outside interference.
“Like I’ve said before, I love that spike from Solo Sikoa. Sami, Kevin, Jimmy, Jey, it was chaos, it was exciting. They built it up and had a hell of a match. Roman is on fire right now and one of these days it will be time to take the belt from him and put it on somebody else, but you don’t make Cody by taking the belt off the right guy at the wrong time.”
“I’m One Of His Biggest Fans” – Steve Austin On Cody Rhodes
Continuing, Austin made it clear that he believes WWE made the correct decision in continuing Roman’s title reign and that he believes Cody will become champion down the line.
“I completely thought they made the right decision. I really respect the hell out of Cody for what he did walking away from WWE, found himself, went down to AEW and then came back. He gets injured, blows out a pec, competes in the Rumble, gets in the main event with Roman. It was so storybook and would have been so cliche to put the belt on him more so.
“Has he earned the opportunity to be there? Yeah. Would he have been the right guy, right now, trying to take out Roman Reigns? I just think not. Roman is so fire and so money. Cody is going to be there. To me, it made me respect Cody more when you’re laying there and looking at the lights. That story is going to be completed one of these days, but it ain’t going to be right here. It was for the right reasons and the reason was business.
“He’ll get it, and when he does, it’ll be a celebration like no other. I’m one of his biggest fans. I see nothing but good things for Cody.”
With his title aspirations on hold for now, Cody Rhodes is currently set to face Brock Lesnar at the upcoming Night of Champions on May 27th in Saudi Arabia.
h/t Fightful