WWE Royal Rumble 2024: Why Cody Rhodes winning was the correct decision

WWE could have gone several other directions with the 2024 Royal Rumble, but the choice it made was wise.

WWE has spent the better of the last two years showcasing Cody Rhodes as a major star. 

Rhodes is heavily featured on the company’s flagship television show, he is front and center on a variety of the company’s promotional materials, including its video game, and is among the first people called upon to represent the company outside of the ring. 

To his credit, Rhodes has answered the bell. He is everything WWE could possibly want in a top star. He looks the part. He acts the part. He is the part.

Which makes it no surprise that WWE turned to Rhodes to win the men’s Royal Rumble for the second year in a row, making him the first to do so since 1998.

I personally maintain that Rhodes did not have to win the Royal Rumble to finish his story at WrestleMania, but WWE chose the path of least resistance, giving Rhodes a direct path to the main event of the biggest show of the year.

I believe the decision was a wise one, as although WWE was well within its right to drag this out to Elimination Chamber, the company also ran the risk of alienating its audience in the process. Just one report, which was later retracted, about Rhodes not headlining WrestleMania sent wrestling fans into hysterics.

One fan wrote an extensive message to WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque on X, pleading for him to give Rhodes a chance to finish his story.

Imagine if WWE dragged this out for another month or so? I’m not sure if wrestling fans could handle another instance of the “Yes! Movement” or “KofiMania.” Granted, those moments occurred under a previous creative regime, which probably would have had Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson enter the Rumble at No. 30, swiftly toss a bunch of people over the top rope, and win the match to a chorus of boos.

Fortunately, it looks like WWE isn’t nearly as tone deaf, showing a level of restraint that has not been in abundance in WWE’s recent past.

WWE’s decision to have Rhodes win the Rumble was not just a reward to the American Nightmare for all of the work he has put in over the last two years, it is also one for the fans who have been watching its product week in and week out.

It would have been a very Vince McMahon decision to have fans invest in someone for months at a time, only to shove that person to the side this time of the year for someone like The Rock.

Instead, all of the time WWE and its fans have invested for the better part of the last two years feels like it was actually worth it.

Other quick notes from the Royal Rumble …

Jade Cargill has an impressive debut

As many predicted, Jade Cargill made her long-awaited WWE in-ring debut at the Royal Rumble and boy, what a debut it was.

Her incredible look combined with her immeasurable amounts of rizz helped her fit right in with the rest of WWE’s talented and deep roster of women. 

But then WWE put the icing on the cake by having Cargill pick up Nia Jax and eliminate the former Raw Women’s Champion all by herself. Earlier in the match, Jax was able to fight off every other participant involved. But that all stopped when Cargill came to the ring, making the latter look like a very credible threat in the process.

We also got a quick staredown between Cargill and Bianca Belair, which feels like a license to print money in general, especially among Black women. 

If the Royal Rumble was any indication, Cargill’s future with WWE is very bright.

Are more TNA wrestlers on the way to WWE?

TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace was an entrant in the Royal Rumble Saturday night, and while she is not the first TNA champion to appear in the women’s Royal Rumble, it certainly feels that way.

The first TNA champion to appear in the Rumble was of course Mickie James, but James has an extensive history with WWE and will one day be inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame. Grace, however, has none of those credentials on her resume just yet, which makes her appearance Saturday feel like an even bigger deal.

And according to Grace, there may be more TNA stars on the way.

Nothing has been officially announced, but this falls in line with recent reports that WWE has been opening the lines of communication between itself and other wrestling promotions.

This is a wild development considering as under McMahon, WWE rarely forged relationships with other promotions. And even when it did, it was more on a one-off basis. 

Under new management, however, WWE seems to be heading in a direction that opens the door to even more collaboration between WWE and other promotions, which I believe is good for the business, provided that WWE doesn’t try to buy up all of its competition again.

But back to Grace … she put forth a tremendous showing, and I think created a couple of new TNA fans in the process.

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