INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Long after the main event of WrestleMania 39 had concluded, Cody Rhodes sat in the ring, motionless, as thousands of fans made their way to the exits of SoFi Stadium. He looked exactly like athletes in unscripted sports do when they come up just short in a championship game, distraught at coming so close to victory on the biggest possible stage only to see it slip away.
Considering he had just lost the biggest match of his career, it probably wasn’t Cody’s most difficult acting job, even though he knew his fate going in.
The consensus going into WrestleMania was that Rhodes was going to accomplish exactly what his mantra, “finish the story,” implied. He’d do what no one had done in four years and pin Roman Reigns to become the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.
WWE had done an excellent job making people believe Rhodes was the man to do it. He was able to hang with Reigns — and even more importantly, Paul Heyman — on the mic. Cody stood up to the Bloodline and was instrumental in giving Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens the little push needed to eventually reunite. And he’d been on a tear headed toward Los Angeles, winning matches and getting reactions that justified WWE’s faith in him as its top babyface.
That’s not to say a Rhodes victory was a fait accompli when the showdown with Reigns finally arrived, but the feeling that he was going to pull it off only grew as the minutes ticked off. Then came the sequence that sold it completely: Rallying to Cody’s aid to fend off The Usos, Owens and Zayn both hit their finishers on the champ. Rhodes hit one Cross Rhodes, then another, and was all but dragging Reigns’ limp body around the ring.
All that did was set the stage for heartbreak on the part of Rhodes and most of the fans in attendance. A hooded figure entered the fray, and with the ref still out of commission from an earlier bump, hit Cody with a Samoan Spike It was Solo Sikoa, returning after an earlier ejection, proving the decisive factor in yet another Reigns victory. One spear later and it was over.
The feeling of shock was palpable, both in person and on social media. WWE doesn’t always do the obvious thing, but rarely has it pointed so hard toward a specific outcome, a particular storybook ending, just to pull the rug out at the end.
In the intermediate aftermath, most of the attention was on Reigns. Did WWE just want him to surpass 1,000 days with the Universal Championship, a mark he’ll hit in only two more months? Maybe it’s Jey Uso who needs to end things for Roman? If not within his own family, does he have anyone left as a legit challenger?
Those are valid questions and could lead to some interesting twists and turns over the months ahead, but where Rhodes goes from here is even more intriguing.
It starts with how he picks himself back up when everything was pointing toward him fulfilling his destiny at WrestleMania 39. Maybe he lets self-doubt creep in, despite the fact that Reigns needed help to beat him. We’ve seen with Hangman Adam Page in AEW that a hero questioning themselves can be compelling.
Can Cody jump through whatever hoops are necessary to get another shot at the titles? He’d already worked so hard and overcome so much to get this one, in both real life (rehabbing from his torn pec last year) and WWE’s storylines (needing to win the Royal Rumble). There’s no reason Reigns needs to give him a rematch any time soon, so will he sulk if he gets kicked to the back of the line?
There’s also an opportunity for a side story with Sikoa. Rhodes was adamant that the Bloodline’s enforcer wasn’t ready for life at the top of the card yet, and seemingly proved it by defeating Sikoa right before WrestleMania. That was before Solo directly cost him the win at SoFi, however, so it would only be right if Cody wanted to seek some payback.
That’s not to say that WWE has earned unconditional trust that it will successfully add more layers to Rhodes’ journey. There’s a risk that he won’t ever be as hot as he was prior to WrestleMania 39. Timing is also a factor; though some suggest he could beat Reigns at SummerSlam, it would feel a little cheap to have Rhodes stumble at WWE’s biggest show only to pay off his perseverance at a lesser one — though SummerSlam is hardly small peanuts, and will be held this year in a football stadium too.
Pondering all of this isn’t going to be much consolation to fans who were emotionally invested in seeing Rhodes win the championship that eluded his famous father, especially if they paid to head to California to witness it in person. It certainly doesn’t mean WWE is guaranteed to author more chapters to Cody’s story that are as good as the ones that just wrapped up.
But there is the potential for Rhodes to have his day a little further down the road, even if it takes until WrestleMania 40. If and when it comes, we’ll be able to look back on the image of him lingering in the ring long after the final bell at WrestleMania 39 and realize it was just another hurdle to overcome, not the end of the road.
Maybe he will too.