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After achieving his dream of becoming WWE Undisputed Champion, Cody Rhodes’ reign is bound to face a dramatic conclusion. In this video, we explore the perfect way for Cody to lose the title and the storyline twists that could lead to a memorable downfall. From potential challengers to emotional rivalries, we break down the scenarios that would leave a lasting impact on WWE fans.
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#codyrhodes #jacobfatu #romanreigns #wwe #wrestling #sportskeedawrestling
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After achieving his dream of becoming WWE Undisputed Champion, Cody Rhodes’ reign is bound to face a dramatic conclusion. In this video, we explore the perfect way for Cody to lose the title and the storyline twists that could lead to a memorable downfall. From potential challengers to emotional rivalries, we break down the scenarios that would leave a lasting impact on WWE fans.
You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe
#codyrhodes #jacobfatu #romanreigns #wwe #wrestling #sportskeedawrestling
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SportsTranscript
00:00Barring injuries, it looks like the American Nightmare Cody Rhodes is going to be the WWE
00:05Champion for a while now.
00:07And for some fickle fans BOOING after Wrestlemania because he took down their big dog, they seem
00:15to have a problem with it.
00:17And we're going to get into all of it, don't worry, we'll really start to take out the
00:21fantasy booking pen, erasing things and writing other things in, we'll get into it.
00:26How should this whole thing go with Cody Rhodes?
00:29Sportskeeda Wrestling, let us know what you think in the comments below.
00:33Cody Rhodes had the biggest title win of his career, defeating the guy in Roman Reigns
00:39who had ruled over WWE as a disingenuous villain with the WWE Championship for years up until
00:47this year's Wrestlemania.
00:49His cheating days as Tribal Chief were vanquished in Philly, but now what?
00:55Yeah, some of you wrestling fans are simply hard to please.
00:59The phenomenal AJ Styles, Logan Paul, Solo Sakoa, Kevin Owens are all great opponents
01:04on paper that Cody has faced and will face coming up in this title reign.
01:09But when you take out the magnifying glass and we get the tweezers, this title defense
01:14doesn't feel like it has the same momentum it should after such a big title change.
01:20There have been some stellar matches that Cody Rhodes has had, undeniably strong matches.
01:25He's a fighting champion, the antithesis of the previous champion, the champion that
01:30Roman Reigns was, who was barely present in quite part time, but that was a part of the
01:35appeal.
01:36Sorry, some of you have to acknowledge that.
01:39Yet for some of you, the sake of arguing and just getting into who should be and who should
01:44be not in this, Cody still humbled Roman, the villain at Wrestlemania.
01:51Has the high continued?
01:52The natural question, how do you follow up that emotional high that was built for years
01:57and years and played out at Wrestlemania and simply keep it going?
02:01It's pretty hard to do.
02:03In the months that have followed since Wrestlemania, diehard fans have seen Rhodes deliver stellar
02:07matches, but the chronic critiques and fickleness of some fans simply haven't relented.
02:13They want upheaval, yes, always want upheaval, and are asking the simple question, who will
02:19defeat Rhodes for the WWE Championship?
02:22Is it still The Rock who is teased immediately after Wrestlemania, Roman Reigns' shadow
02:28still looming over WWE after such a long title reign, the bloodline drama that never seems
02:34to relent, and everyone else associated with it still kind of haunts WWE while Cody is
02:40the defending champion?
02:42There was that entire Solo Sakoa feud that built to Summerslam.
02:46Solo Sakoa stepped up in a big way post-Wrestlemania, but there's just something that seems missing
02:51that hasn't allowed him to be as credible as he's being made out to be.
02:57What we mean is that despite the fact that he took over control of the bloodline, introduced
03:01new members to the group, became the leader, and stepped up against Cody Rhodes, he still
03:05seems like he isn't WWE Championship material.
03:10And here's the counter argument to that, that's the idea.
03:13The idea is that he has usurped power without being someone we feel has earned the role
03:19to be the leader and title challenger he's supposed to be.
03:23Yeah, he isn't worth it, but that's the idea to make him boo-able.
03:26And even before this, Jacob Fatu came into the scene of WWE, and there were rumors that
03:31some WWE officials were worried that he would overshadow Solo Sakoa, and it took him less
03:37than two months to do that in the eyes of plenty of vocal fans.
03:41Not only that, but Solo's rivalry was overshadowed by the fact that everyone was just like, hey,
03:47when's Roman coming back?
03:48Yeah, when Cody Rhodes beat Solo Sakoa, people weren't talking about the match.
03:53Though it was good, don't sleep on the match.
03:56They were talking about Roman Reigns returning, Roman's reign is back, and the Ola Fala necklace
04:01seems to be the most important prize on Smackdown, and the most important storyline, and everyone's
04:06like, but what about Cody?
04:09What about Cody?
04:10Yeah, we wanted Cody before WrestleMania, do you still want Cody now?
04:16Cody felt like he was a side character, but he's supposed to be the champion, he's supposed
04:21to be the man.
04:22Cody meanwhile is granted a title shot to the always game to steal the show, the prize
04:28fighter Kevin Owens for Bash in Berlin, but as we record this, it doesn't seem like there's
04:33a simmering feeling of a title change coming at all.
04:37Cody and Owens can tear it down bell to bell, and the circumstances don't leave us feeling
04:43like the drama is dripping off the screen.
04:45It's interesting, but it doesn't have the feeling we've had with Cody before.
04:50The main thing we've seen in the build to Bash between Cody and Owens is a tease of
04:56KO turning heelish once again.
04:59That's something that's yet to happen at the moment as we record this, and it's intriguing,
05:04but maybe it's just trying to build up months of anticipation in a few weeks that doesn't
05:08just match.
05:10Before Summerslam, it was Randy Orton who seemed pegged to turn on Cody Rhodes and become
05:16a viper once more, but he's slithered away from that path because he was subtly eyeing
05:22the WWE Championship.
05:24But Orton going over to Raw to face Kuntha, since they have unfinished business, because
05:30that makes sense.
05:31They have history, play on it.
05:33When there's so much happening with the World Heavyweight title scene on Raw, it's hard
05:37not to see why maybe it is a little more intriguing than what's going on with the WWE Championship
05:44scene over on Smackdown with Cody.
05:46And we should mention in our other videos, this isn't exactly the American Nightmare's
05:51fault, because he's still the guy.
05:54People still lose their minds for Cody.
05:57You still have fans go WOOOOO, and sing along with Downstate every time he hits the ring.
06:03The demographics across the board love the modern day Captain America that is Cody.
06:09But what's the issue?
06:10Maybe a superstar being great doesn't translate to a great story.
06:14It's a coordinated effort, and it isn't the worst thing in the world.
06:17We just want it to be great, right?
06:20We'd argue the biggest issue so far has been there was so much emphasis on the years on
06:26who would dethrone Roman Reigns, but after it, it's the what next problem we keep coming
06:31back to.
06:32It's not uncommon for good guys in wrestling to be hotter on the chase for the title than
06:37when they have the title.
06:39Let's make another example, another generation, Stone Cold Steve Austin.
06:44In his prime, there was nobody hotter than him.
06:48Nobody drew the ratings.
06:49It was the Attitude Era.
06:50We're talking the peak of wrestling many years ago.
06:54Stone Cold was the guy, but he was always just better chasing the title maybe than winning
07:00it.
07:01So before you call Cody a boring champion, try to use more than a few brain cells and
07:07remember that he's following the greatest world title reign of the 21st century, at
07:11least the most interesting one.
07:13And guess what?
07:14That world title reign was interesting for a lot of other reasons besides just Roman.
07:18And Cody's title scene has to be more interesting beyond just him.
07:24Yeah, Cody's had a lot of fun, good matches, but it's just hard to follow what we had before.
07:30It's an interesting challenge for Triple H and his creative team and everyone involved,
07:34and it doesn't seem impossible.
07:37But apart from just the challenge of having to get through a reign and make it memorable,
07:42it's also how you end it in a big way.
07:44So let's get to that.
07:46That's been the big hook here.
07:47All right, so let's reel in this big mouth fantasy booking bass.
07:51We're talking about the guy who's going to beat the guy who beat Roman Reigns.
07:56That has to be a special guy.
07:58It's not uncommon for good guys in wrestling to get the short title reigns, while big guys
08:03get the long ones.
08:04It's, you know, building to a big title change, and that's what we got at WrestleMania 40.
08:09But in this case, we would argue that it's justified for Cody to hold the undisputed
08:14WWE championship for over a year.
08:17Based on Raw after WrestleMania 40, that opening segment alone, the electricity between
08:22him and The Rock, it seems like WrestleMania 41, maybe night two, could be headlined by
08:27Cody Rhodes taking on The Rock, once again coming in saying that he's the big superstar,
08:33the Hollywood guy.
08:34You can just jump the line.
08:36It's a blockbuster match on paper, but The Rock isn't exactly sticking around long enough
08:40to have a run as universal WWE champion.
08:44In the Raw after WrestleMania, The Rock inserted a few words to kind of work around the possibility
08:50of his match against Cody being a non-title bout.
08:54He told Cody that whether he's the champion or not, the final boss will be coming for
09:01him.
09:02But in reality, Cody losing the title before WrestleMania seems like a bad idea.
09:07For one, it would break away from Triple H's more old-school mentality of long-term storytelling.
09:13Yes, sorry for you, Gen Z fans.
09:16You have to be patient.
09:18Aside from that, who on the SmackDown roster possibly could dethrone Cody Rhodes?
09:23It may ruffle some feathers.
09:25Prepare for ruffled feathers.
09:27From where we stand, it should be a different choice.
09:30Someone you don't see coming, but someone who's there.
09:33Someone we've already talked about maybe jumping the line.
09:37Someone who's going to ruffle some feathers and howl at the moon.
09:41The Samoan werewolf, Jacob Fatu.
09:44Yes, we think he's a possible guy to dethrone Cody Rhodes for the undisputed WWE Championship.
09:50And no, we're not suggesting that Cody should be WWE Champion until like WrestleMania
09:5542 in 2026.
09:56Instead, we're suggesting that his title reign should progress maybe past WrestleMania
10:02into Summerslam.
10:03On the other hand, it's mildly annoying when you know the biggest title changes are
10:07only reserved for the biggest shows.
10:09But hey, this is WWE.
10:11They can shift things up, be organic, respond to the audience.
10:14We're just fantasy booking here, alright?
10:16You don't have to poke holes and everything like it's Swiss cheese.
10:19But then again, the undisputed WWE title has yet to change hands at a Summerslam under
10:23Triple H's rules.
10:24Not only that, but it gives a lot of time for Jacob Fatu to continue to claw through
10:31with a meteoric rise in WWE and get that undeniable legitimacy before he gets to that title opportunity.
10:40How do we get him there?
10:42Well, you'll be surprised with what we say next.
10:45We've done a whole video on Triple H's master plan for Roman Reigns and the Bloodline, so
10:50you should definitely check that out before we get to this.
10:53Following that same line of thought, it would see a timeline where Roman Reigns and Solo
10:58Sakoa have their rivalry and it ends before WrestleMania.
11:03Under Jacob Fatu, Solo's enforcer, he emerges as the true force of this new bloodline and
11:10Roman's biggest threat.
11:13It would lead to a match at WrestleMania 41 in the deserts of Nevada at Las Vegas where
11:18Jacob Fatu decisively, shockingly puts Roman Reigns away.
11:26No gimmicks, no interference, no screw jobs, jaws dropped on the floor like when we saw
11:32The Undertaker's streak end.
11:35Just a good ol' fashioned Samoan ass whoopin' that rocks the WWE landscape.
11:42To get Jacob Fatu in a position to take the title off Cody, he has to beat the guy Cody
11:48beat for the title.
11:51For just about 99% of the WWE roster, rising to that position is near impossible, and for
11:56the ones who eventually rise to that level, it takes years to organically build up to
12:02main event status.
12:04This would slingshot Jacob Fatu ahead of those standard expectations.
12:09He is an outlier, it does not apply to him.
12:12He paid his dues before he got to WWE and when he got there, jumped ahead of NXT to
12:17the main roster.
12:19This guy debuted in Chicago, I saw it, it was instantaneous.
12:24He was a star, and on top of it, he has the pedigree of the Anoahe family, he is supposed
12:29to be an outlier within this family that is already wrestling royalty.
12:34All the WWE needs to do is continue to establish him as a dominant force, a merciless he shouldn't
12:42be pinned or submitted at any point.
12:44By the time we get to WrestleMania 41, he will already be a credible challenger.
12:50The only issue again is after WrestleMania season is over, the biggest matches have finished,
12:55how exactly does WWE go about setting up Rhodes vs Fatu?
13:01The problem here is by beating Roman Reigns emphatically as we described, Fatu would automatically
13:07become a frontrunner for a WWE title match.
13:11The easier route would be a more straightforward one that has already been established, having
13:16Jacob Fatu become king of the ring and earn a title shot at Summerslam.
13:20The side effect of this is what we saw this year with Gunther and Nia Jax.
13:25Already they became king and queen of the ring respectively.
13:29They were just put on the sidelines for a while until Summerslam got there.
13:33Part of the game, part of the circumstances, so many weeks of television, can't have everyone
13:38on all the time.
13:39Do you want to do that with Jacob Fatu and slow down his momentum?
13:43It's probably something worth avoiding, and to do that, Jacob Fatu needs to have an interesting
13:48storyline post-WrestleMania that keeps him away from Cody Rhodes, but still keeps him
13:54dangerous.
13:56Maybe WWE might just throw a few more Samoans in to start a next chapter of the bloodline,
14:03but it's hard to see a scenario where repeating the same storyline is going to sit with the
14:09same fickle fans that are asking, what's next, what's next?
14:13Yeah, WWE is still very well aware of this, so hopefully the mistakes are not being made
14:19now and will be a point to note for WWE in the post-WrestleMania 41 season that we're
14:26already envisioning more than a year or so away.
14:30But to do that, there needs to be more effort put into the storylines that Cody Rhodes is
14:34currently involved in now.
14:37We want Cody, give Cody something!
14:39At Summerslam 2025, Jacob Fatu could defeat a very vain Cody Rhodes, a very valiant Cody
14:44Rhodes, and begin a new era of the Anawahi wrestling dynasty.
14:50The stars seem to align perfectly for Fatu to take on Cody Rhodes and take on his throne.
14:55Not The Rock, not Roman Reigns, definitely not Solo Sokoa, I know some of you are still
14:59yelling about Solo Sokoa.
15:01More resources into Raw when it moves over to Netflix and that deal kicks in, more eyeballs
15:07get on that show, wouldn't be surprised to see Cody Rhodes, or whoever the WWE Champion
15:12is, be drafted over there from Smackdown.
15:15That's just another hypothetical.
15:16There's a lot of cards and pieces moving around here with the new TV deals about to set in.
15:21Perhaps after Jacob Fatu defeats Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, we're still thinking that's
15:25a possibility, it would make sense for him to be completely separated, keep it separated
15:30as the offspring would say, from the bloodline as a single star, which would be a big deal
15:35as well.
15:36An additional benefit to having Cody move over to Raw is a new set of challengers, fresh
15:42faces, fresh storylines for him to continue his own legacy with the WWE Championship,
15:48so that might be a solution in keeping him fresh with the title.
15:51Either way, there doesn't seem to be another man on the roster more deserving and more
15:56interesting than Jacob Fatu.
15:59And we know some of you are screaming at us, but he isn't ready.
16:03Maybe that's not the point.
16:05Do you think Jacob Fatu should be the one to dethrone Cody?
16:09Maybe you have someone else.
16:10We would love to hear your ideas.
16:12Maybe we can respond to your ideas in a future video.
16:15Just saying.
16:16Who knows?
16:17We'll see.
16:18We're just fantasy booking, people.
16:19As always, thanks for watching, and remember to hit the like button on this video.
16:23Come on, give it an old, old, smash it with a thumb right there.
16:27Go thumb to thumb right now if you have a touch screen.
16:35Always.