Cody Rhodes was feeling himself on the “SmackDown After WrestleMania,” cutting a big boy promo in Fort Worth.
It was a sharp turnaround from the morose version of “The American Nightmare” fans saw on Raw, where he interrupted CM Punk to offer a pep talk after Punk lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 42.
Instead, Rhodes looked like the one who needed cheering up. Bless Punk for delivering a healing word, which might explain why Rhodes was all smiles on Friday as he did
that obnoxious thing of asking the fans what they wanted to talk about before telling them what he wanted to talk about.
And what Rhodes wanted to talk about was how he walked out of WrestleMania not just as the champion after beating Randy Orton, but how he took Orton’s best shot and still got up. He also made sure everyone knew he came to Mania dressed in gold as a jab at Sami Zayn, who, rightfully, called him WWE’s Golden Boy.
Sporting a black eye from Orton’s post-match punt, Rhodes didn’t let it dull his shine as he took a shot at what he called “outside forces” — presumably WWE’s parent company, TKO, and its executives — for intruding on his WrestleMania plans. He then declared himself 0-3 against those forces.
Say what?
Not since “Hollywood” Hogan brushed off a loss to “Rowdy” Roddy Piper at Starrcade 1996 have I heard such revisionist history. At least when Hogan did it, he was a heel. Rhodes is supposed to be this squeaky clean good guy, yet here he was, outright lying to the public.
Luckily for fans, when I speak, I come armed with facts.
O-3, You Say?
Heading into WrestleMania XL, Rhodes had to contend with The Rock, which led to a cinematic finish that saw Rhodes defeat Roman Reigns for WWE’s top prize. But before that, Rhodes was pinned by The Rock in a tag team match at night one of that year’s event.
Record: 1-1.
Last year, at WrestleMania 41, it appeared as though Rhodes would have to contend with the trio of The Rock, rapper Travis Scott, and newly minted heel John Cena. Instead, Rock went missing, Rhodes beat on Scott, then Cena kicked Rhodes in the yams to beat him for the Undisputed title.
Record: 1-2.
This year, Rhodes dealt with Orton and Pat McAfee. McAfee was Orton’s mystery motivator, supposedly sent by TKO to derail Rhodes. It backfired, giving us a smug Rhodes, who issued an open challenge to anyone who wanted a piece of the Nightmare.
“Cody Rhodes — easy to find, hard to beat.”
You can bet that’s headed for a T-shirt, but I digress.
By my count, that makes Rhodes 2-2 against outside forces at WrestleMania. But hey, why let facts get in the way of good marketing?
What’s Next?
Of course, the question now is who steps up next. A match with Punk feels SummerSlam-bound at the earliest, maybe even next year’s WrestleMania. Looking at SmackDown’s roster, there’s no ready-made challenger. Rhodes could run it back with Orton, who was M.I.A. on Friday, or face Zayn, though Zayn is still tied up with U.S. champ Trick Williams.
With an open challenge, someone from Raw or even NXT could show up. NXT is interesting because Ricky Saints, Rhodes’ real-life friend, is now on the blue brand. Could Rhodes face Saints to help give him an early boost? We’ll see.
For now, I’m left trying to figure out how Rhodes came up with his figure of 0-3, and thought he could get away with it.
Any guesses, dear readers?
