9 months ago
42 ARTICLE AD
WWE
A mere 48 hours ago, Cody Rhodes became the first back-to-back WWE Royal Rumble winner since "Stone Cold Steve Austin" 26 years ago. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns watched the match from their respective suites — following his win, Rhodes found the suite with "The Tribal Chief" and pointed at him, indicating he'd be challenging the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion at WrestleMania 40. He confirmed as much in the press conference after the show.
During "WWE Raw" Monday night, however, Rhodes was addressing the fans when he was interrupted by the World Heavyweight Champion, Rollins, who tried to appeal to "The American Nightmare" by trashing Reigns and his historic title reign. Rollins said the title was created because the fans were tired of Reigns and his shenanigans, referred to the other title as the "Hollywood title" and the "Hulk Hogan title," and of course, invoked Cody's father.
"Do you want the Dusty Rhodes title?" Rollins asked. "Do you want the workhorse championship? The blue collar championship? Because that's what the World Championship means."
Rhodes was already emotional when he came to the ring and became even more so as Rollins spoke. He ultimately told "The Visionary" that he would think about it, leaving the possibility of Rhodes vs. Rollins at WrestleMania 40 on the table.
Rollins is dealing with a Grade 2 MCL tear along with a partially torn medial meniscus in his left knee. He is hoping to avoid surgery, which would put him out of action for 3-4 months; last week, he vowed to defend his title at WrestleMania. Meanwhile, his rumored opponent, CM Punk, suffered an injury of his own at Royal Rumble and will miss WrestleMania entirely — it remains to be seen if WWE is actually pivoting Rhodes toward chasing Rollins' title rather than Reigns'.
