Cody Rhodes reigns supreme as the Undisputed WWE Champion. The American Nightmare is enjoying every bit of success in and outside the squared circle. He was recently cast in a Naked Gun reboot that would also feature Busta Rhymes, Liza Koshy and others. He’s reportedly surpassed John Cena’s numbers when it comes to moving merchandise.
There’s no arguing that Rhodes has worked extremely hard to get to the point where he is today. He was in a career limbo when he left WWE in 2016, reinvented himself, won world titles outside WWE, co-founded All Elite Wrestling, and the rest is history. That said, his post-injury return seems oddly familiar to a major storyline from nearly a decade ago.
Cody Rhodes tore his pec in the lead-up to Hell in a Cell 2022 but ended up putting in a gutsy performance against Seth Rollins at the June 6 PPV. Rhodes would spend the following months in rehab only to return and win the 2023 Men’s Royal Rumble. He’d fail to defeat Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39 in one of the most polarizing endings to a Mania main event.
Cody Rhodes’ world title chase has interesting parallels to John Cena
It would take The American Nightmare a full year to “finish his story” against The Tribal Chief.
Let’s just pause here for a second. Who else had to wait a full year to get “redemption?” Which superstar faced both Brock Lesnar and CM Punk on the road to WrestleMania?
Cody Rhodes did, but so did John Cena.
WWE’s biggest storyline from a decade ago had Cena finding his path to WrestleMania by navigating the odds.
Cena famously lost to The Rock during their “Once in a Lifetime” match at WrestleMania 28. He’d face a returning Brock Lesnar at the following Extreme Rules PPV event, defeating The Beast in his first WWE match since WrestleMania XX – a decision that caused a lot of controversy among fans back in the day.
The 2013 Royal Rumble would see Cena win his second over-the-top rope extravaganza. However, he’d have to go through archrival CM Punk to cement his number one contender’s spot against The Rock. Oddly enough, the Straight Edge Superstar has been the final pitstop in both Cena and Cody Rhodes’ title quest a decade apart.
Punk lost to Cena in their number one contender’s match on WWE RAW in 2013. He’d fall to Rhodes in the final moments of the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble thus failing to win the big match when it mattered the most on both occasions. Punk versus Drew McIntyre seems to be the direction following Clash at the Castle.
Rhodes isn’t the first WWE Champion to be tricked by a fake retirement
John Cena had three successful title defenses on pay-per-view post-WrestleMania 29. Cody Rhodes, in comparison, has already had two successful title defenses on Premium Live Events since WrestleMania. He beat AJ Styles in a great match at Backlash France. His next title defense saw him put away United States Champion Logan Paul in Saudi Arabia.
Rhodes versus Styles II seems to be the direction in the aftermath of a major fake retirement angle on WWE SmackDown. The Phenomenal One tricked the Undisputed WWE Champion into thinking he was retiring only to pull a Mark Henry. The former World’s Strongest Man is all praise for the Phenomenal One in the aftermath of the recreated segment.
Henry failed to beat Cena at Money in the Bank 2013. Styles would probably suffer the same fate in his highly-anticipated second outing against Cody Rhodes. This makes me wonder if SmackDown GM Nick Aldis would have Rhodes pick his opponent for SummerSlam 2024 just like Cena did when he selected Daniel Bryan (aka Danielson) for SummerSlam 2013.
Bryan went on to beat Cena for the top championship only to drop it to Randy Orton, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on The American Dragon thanks to Triple H. It remains to be seen how Paul Levesque books the Undisputed WWE Championship picture on the road to the Biggest Party of the Summer.
