Those in WWE are steadfast in their belief that Roman Reigns beating Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39 was the right call.
Heading into the match many were predicting that Rhodes would be the man standing tall at the end of the night after “finishing his story.” This would have seen him celebrating with the World Championship that his famous father never managed to win. It seemed like the perfect fairytale, however, that’s not how it played out.
Rhodes battled valiantly against Reigns and the entire Bloodline, but when all was said and done it was the Tribal Chief left holding the gold.
Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that Roman Reigns’ and WWE’s success over the ensuing months has only reinforced to those within the company that the controversial outcome was the right one.
“And there were a lot of complaints when Rhodes didn’t beat Reigns, and here we are four months later and things are still growing. Those in WWE are strong on the idea that growth is proof that the decision not to put the title on Rhodes at that time was the right one, and in theory, someday they will.
You could argue that you could have done the Bloodline stuff for the Tribal Chief spot and had Rhodes with the belt and it would have been as good or better, but thus far you can’t argue what has been done has been effective in growth.”
What Happened To Cody Rhodes After WrestleMania?
After being defeated by Reigns, the American Nightmare set his sights on a quick rematch, but that didn’t work out either. On the Raw after WrestleMania, Rhodes was attacked by Brock Lesnar setting up a four-month feud between the pair.
Rhodes won their first match at Backlash, before being defeated at Night of Champions. This set up a decider at SummerSlam which was won by the second-generation star.
While Cody Rhodes has set his sights on getting back into World Title contention after the win, Brock Lesnar is taking a break from WWE, and he reportedly suffered an injury at SummerSlam.