How Cody Rhodes Should Lose His WWE Undisputed Championship

Sportskeeda Wrestling

Check out Sportskeeda's brand new game, BrainBuster! Can you become the undisputed quiz champion? Play now to find out - https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe/brainbuster-wwe-player-guessing-game  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

Transcript

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.

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