So, WrestleMania 39 has come and gone. I, like many, was disappointed that Cody Rhodes did not win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania from our Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns. Unlike some fans that act like petulant children when they don’t get what they want, I was just slightly bummed and not remotely angry. The feeling lasted no longer than an hour tops because I realized the big picture. It’s not over yet!
Cody Rhodes is his own man and shouldn’t always be compared to his father Dusty Rhodes, but it all makes sense. Now, any American Dream fan worth their salt knows about Dusty’s famous “hard times” promo. Some can even recite it word for word. Now it’s all clicking in my head. Cody needs to go through some hard times himself. This could lead to Cody coming out better on the other side for having gone through what’s to come, and will finally be the one to dethrone Roman Reigns, and do it at WrestleMania 40 next year.
When some friends and colleagues brought this up not long after WrestleMania ended, I thought that he did go through hard times, what with his gruesome injury not long after his return and subsequently nine months on the shelf. It was elaborated to me further that although these events were definitely difficult, it just wasn’t enough to drive the storyline along to the ultimate climax that awaits us wrestling fans. He made a huge return after being gone for several years, making a much bigger name for himself, along with being one of the cofounders of AEW. He returned at last year’s WrestleMania and defeated Seth Rollins, continuing a bitter feud with him, along with their last encounter inside Hell In a Cell during which his injury was fully on display. He came back again to win the Royal Rumble at the cushy number 30 spot to secure his ticket to the main event at WrestleMania. To some, this doesn’t sound like he’s been through enough adversity. It took me a minute but now I understand.
Now that this story has presented itself, I am fully on board. I am ready for him to go through hard times. One such thing is Brock Lesnar, who turned on Cody the night after WrestleMania and viciously attacked the American Nightmare. This will come to a head in their upcoming match at Backlash in a few weeks. What a great place to start in a journey of hard times then to go through the Beast Incarnate himself! The question is, who wins? Some say Cody needs the win but at the same time, doesn’t that go against the entire concept of hard times? I have a compromise of sorts. When Brock Lesnar returned after an eight year absence to confront John Cena and fought him at that year’s Backlash only to lose, fans were infuriated! However, people need to remember the circumstance. Cena may have been the technical victor, but did he look like one after Brock annihilated him for most of the match? Cena could barely stand. Cena won the battle but Brock clearly won the war. I suggest that same scenario with Cody. Cody can squeak out a win, but would not look like or even feel like the winner after the match. However, this also depends on Brock’s schedule and we could see Cody flat out lose, only to eventually defeat Brock at another event, bringing to a conclusion one of several “hard times” to come. Even if it’s a one-off and Cody loses, again it’s part of the overall story arch.
One thing keeps bugging me, though. Maybe it’s paranoia or maybe I’ve seen fans do this too many times, but some fans do tend to turn on the very person they were supporting on a dime. Fans are quite fickle. I bring this up because to get back to the main event of WrestleMania next year, he’d likely have to win the Royal Rumble again. He’s not going to be number 30 again and number one is too predictable. Therein lies the problem! Would fans like this or hate it? Some claim they hate things being too predictable but sometimes it’s okay. Sometimes it makes sense. Like the old line in the Full House theme says, “whatever happened to predictability?”
I asked some friends about this, worrying about the fans turning on Cody. They assured me and based on seeing the crowds so far, that this won’t necessarily happen and people will still support him. That being said, there are other ways to get to WrestleMania’s main event. Also, at this point, especially if Cody reaches that brass ring again, who in their right mind thinks Roman Reigns won’t still be Champion by then? Back to the point here, there are other ways. There is Money In the Bank, but that also does the opposite of hard times. They could go the Daniel Bryan route and insert him in, but I feel like it needs to focus on just Roman and Cody. Another possibility is that the unified championship will be split again. However, in my opinion, this diminishes the whole thing. Although my opinion is that the Universal Title doesn’t count as a World Title and that the only true one is the WWE Title, I feel like Cody needs to win the Unified Titles. Having him win just one, even if it’s the only one I think matters, is not the right call. Because WWE sees both Championships as legit and equal, it would not be beneficial for Cody, or for Roman for that matter. When someone does finally dethrone the Tribal Chief, it needs to mean something. If you defeat Roman but only did it for one belt instead of both, did you really win? Plus it diminishes the point of having had the Championships unified, especially on the scale it was when it was Roman and Brock making it happen! Many people told Cody to finish his story. Triple H recently said that the story isn’t over yet. Perhaps the story finishes next year!
Similar to the idea of Dusty’s “hard times” promo is another story and perhaps it’s just a coincidence that next year WrestleMania will go down in Philadelphia. Some have claimed they are going the route of Rocky II. In the first Rocky movie, many were surprised that Rocky Balboa lost to Apollo Creed. However, Rocky ultimate gets his win against Apollo in the sequel. It does have similarities to Roman and Cody. Also, since Philadelphia is the City of Brotherly Love, how fitting would it be if Dustin Rhodes was able to celebrate the moment with his brother?
Going back to how Cody gets there, if WWE is apprehensive about Cody winning back to back Rumbles, the winner could go the route of John Cena years ago when he decided to use his Title shot earlier than WrestleMania. This could be a way in for Cody, only the Rumble winner doesn’t get added to make it a Triple Threat, as this is Cody’s story alone. At this point, they could then go with a KofiMania scenario where more obstacles get in his way and it takes him winning the Elimination Chamber to get his Title shot and main event glory. This I believe is the best way to go to get Cody to WrestleMania again with the Chamber win as his last form of hard times before facing Roman Reigns once again.
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