Cody Rhodes To The Rock: ‘I Think You’re An A$%hole’

Cody Rhodes has officially shed his squeaky clean ‘babyface’ gimmick and is starting to show some… well, attitude. This was always going to be the case once The Rock entered the fray. The Rock thought a match with Roman Reigns was big enough that it could exist without narrative. Rock-Reigns is a big match, but fans will always invest in the better story, which is Cody’s Third Act. He made the save to help Jey Uso earlier in the night, but now he was out in front of the crowd in PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, ready to address The Rock’s concert on Friday’s SmackDown.

Cody Rhodes got over in his all-black suit, which set the tone for the darker promo he had planned. Rhodes decided to stoop to The Rock’s level by claiming that all Dwayne has done since he returned is cry to his TKO friends and everyone backstage.“You’re a whiny b****,” Cody said into the camera as though he was speaking directly into whatever screen The Rock had his eyes on watching.

Like Rollins and The Rock have accomplished in the build to this match, Cody even managed to get the crowd to chant a new acronym: LDS (little d*** syndrome). Cody asked, “Is it going to be big Dwayne energy or just LDS: little d*** syndrome?” Before acknowledging The Rock by his ‘final boss’ status, Cody referred to The Rock as ‘Roman’s side chick,’ something Rollins later echoed in his promo.

Eventually, Paul Heyman made his way down to ringside to broker a deal with Cody: Roman Reigns will agree to a face-to-face ALONE with Cody this Friday on SmackDown, without The Bloodline, if Cody agrees to show up alone as well.

After agreeing to the terms, Cody Rhodes ran into Jey Uso backstage, who offered to watch his back Friday if Cody decides not to show up ‘alone.’ This stipulation plays well into the overall narrative of who you can trust. Both Cody and Roman are teaming up with two men with major ‘heel turn’ moments in their careers, but trust is such a key personality trait for ‘faces,’ and if you can’t trust ‘family,’ then who can you trust?

WILL THE USO’S MATCH AT WRESTLEMANIA HAVE HART?

Bret Hart and Owen Hart opened WrestleMania 10 back in 1994– they were the first brothers to face off against one another at a WrestleMania–and then The Hardy Boyz, Matt, and Jeff faced off at WrestleMania 25. Now, fifteen years since the last sibling squabble at ‘The Show of Shows,’ The Uso Brothers, Jey and Jimmy will square off against one another at ‘Mania 40.

Jey was the first to come out of ‘Gorilla’ tonight, but he almost immediately acknowledged the presence of his Bloodline family in attendance. Not long after, Jimmy and Solo arrived through the crowd. Both brothers gave impassioned promos, and if you have the ability to empathize with both men equally, you can see how each brother feels betrayed by the other.

After taking credit for Jey’s recent success post-Uso era, the Yeet Man struck his brother before turning his attention to Solo. That brief distraction left an opening for Jimmy to land a super kick on Jey.

The story has been building for a while, mimicking the six-month buildup to Bret vs Owen, but it also feels like it could resemble Matt vs Jeff. That Hardys’ match was good, but it was not great. The two missed out on their opportunity to have a classic like Bret and Owen, but Jey and Jimmy have the skills and in-ring storytelling ability to possibly surpass both brother vs brother matches.

IN-RING ACTION

MAIN EVENT: LAST WOMAN STANDING—Becky Lynch vs Nia Jax

Continuing their storyline that has seemed to go on forever, and Lynch put the definitive (hopefully) victory over Jax tonight. Lynch went through tables and received plenty of punishment, but Lynch got the win after putting Jax down for the 10-count with a leg drop on Nia through a table. Before the show closed, the women’s world champ, Rhea Ripley, made her way ringside to confront Lynch.

DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) vs Julius Creed and Brutus Creed—Tag Team Title Ladder Match at Mania qualifier

So far, the best match of the qualifiers on both RAW and SmackDown, the two teams told a gradual story in the ring that led to some incredible offense from all four competitors. In the end, DIY won after some close near-falls and are now headed to WrestleMania for the first time in both of their careers.

Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell vs Kayden Carter & Katana Chance

LeRae and Hartwell picked up the win courtesy of Candice’s new outlook on competing. The new heel, LeRae, plays well on TV, and it feels like a Hartwell split is imminent.

“Dirty” Dom Mysterio vs Ricochet

Even with JD McDonagh’s interference in the match, Dom could not pull off the victory, giving Ricochet a pinfall victory over a member of The Judgment Day in back-to-back weeks.

Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) vs Indus Sher (Veer Mahaan and Sanga) Six-Pack Tag Team Ladder Match Qualifier

Awesome Truth proved victorious, but their momentum has hit a snag. It would be awesome to see both The Miz and R-Truth get their Mania moment in recognition of a forgotten period in WWE.

TONIGHT’S TIDBITS

• It was announced that Peacock will air a documentary on Mike Rotunda, better known by his gimmick Bray Wyatt, titled “Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal” on April 1^st.

• Gable will get his, it seems, after he lost to Sami Zane last week. The two shared a backstage segment where a gesture of sportsmanship from Zane turned to a frustrated admission by Gable.‘You can’t beat Gunther,’ Gable exclaimed to the number one contender for the Intercontinental championship before walking off and leaving the bad juju in the air for Zane like a fart in an elevator. Zane responded after the break and in the next segment—the contract signing for Gunther to defend his IC title against Zane at Mania. The story is excellent as you have the workhorse that has had a run of bad luck the past year or so going against the workhorse that hasn’t lost in over 600 days.
• A video package of CM Punk appeared to show him on the rehab trail already, lifting weights and giving us a message on voiceover. It was announced last week that CM Punk would return to WWE TV on the March 25^thedition of RAW.

Mario Mungia

Mario Mungia Jr. has a decade worth of experience as a combat sports journalist and correspondent which began with ThaBoxingVoice (TBV) as a podcast co-host, writer and editor-in-chief. Aside from his online resume, Mario spent a fair portion of his early career working for Spanish/English magazine Premier Round and the Mexican website Izquierdo. Mario has also contributed to NYFights while simultaneously working for MIC Sports Network as part of the broadcast crew covering local high school sports. Since then, he has launched his own podcast/live stream (Infighting/Work In Progress) and is covering pro wrestling for FightsATW.

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