Warning: This article contains details for this coming Friday Night SmackDown from the jump — and a bold prediction bound to upset a lot of wrestling fans. Reader discretion is advised.
Cody Rhodes came face-to-face-to-face with Sami Zayn and Gunther, the challengers in Saturday’s triple threat match at Night of Champions for Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Championship.
But they weren’t alone.
Joining them during Tuesday’s taping for this week’s Friday Night SmackDown were Jey Uso and Oba Femi, the finalists
in the King of the Ring tournament. When the segment was over, Uso and Femi each had an opportunity to tease a potential SummerSlam showdown against each of the three men in Saturday’s triple threat.
But before all that, there was a tense stare-down between Rhodes and Uso.
Notably, it was another beat in a series of moments between Rhodes and Uso over the past couple of months. At this point, WWE has enough footage of Uso and Rhodes eyeing each other to create a pre-match highlight package for an event like, oh, say, SummerSlam.
But the literal kicker was when Femi arrived at the party on Tuesday, Uso used the opening to cheap-shot Rhodes with a superkick.
That’s the same Cody Rhodes who vouched for Uso in 2023 when no one in WWE would trust Jey following his run in the Bloodline.
The same Cody Rhodes with whom Jey Uso won a tag team championship, the only partner besides his brother Jimmy Uso that Jey has ever captured tag team gold with.
And to make it a perfect trifecta, this was the same Cody Rhodes Jey Uso took up for at WrestleMania XL, contributing to Rhodes finishing his story at the expense of Uso’s cousin, Roman Reigns.
That’s a lot of history between these two friends, and nearly as much footage of them staring each other down over wrestling’s richest prize.
Add it all up, and those clues point to one conclusion: Jey Uso is winning King of the Ring.
