By winning the WWE Royal Rumble, Cody Rhodes secured his shot at the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 39.
The titles are currently held by Roman Reigns, who unified the WWE Title with the Universal Title at WrestleMania 38. He's been the Universal Champion since August 30, 2020.
While the clash between Rhodes and Reigns is still just over two months away, Cody has begun gearing up for the biggest match of his life.
"The irony and the potential of a Rhodes going on last, when my dad spent eight years competing against WWE, I spent three and stirred up as much trouble as I could possibly stir up. The irony of the potential of going on last under the brightest lights on the grandest stage is just why this place is so good. No judgments, well, not no judgments, I'm sure there are some hard feelings that happened over here, but if a guy or girl is 'the thing,' if they're ready, then they're moving it forward. That's what we're going to push. The idea of it, I don't want to end up like TCU in the National Title game where 'maybe I wasn't supposed to be there.' I don't want to shrivel under the lights. I am very much just now letting it all sink in, what we're doing. I want to let it all sink in now so I can stop doing the, 'this is amazing, this is going to be great.' You want to pretend like you've been in the endzone. I want to show up, and we've got to deliver, and we have to execute whatever that situation is, whether I'm wrestling Roman Reigns, which is what it looks like, or whoever it is. I have to finish the story," said Rhodes on Impaulsive with Logan Paul.
TCU lost 65-7 in the National Title game to Georgia.
Rhodes closed by saying, "What I would say for Roman, in terms of what he's done, it really is amazing in terms of the irony of the situation where he could potentially be standing across from me, but there are some things that are better than your nutrition, your conditioning, your ability in the ring. Some things that you just can't avoid. This is one of those things. This is a legitimate team that has surrounded me, a team of destiny and is someone who, I think at the end of the day, I want it more. I hope that's what it comes down to. The biggest WrestleMania of all time. As much as I'd like to say the most important thing is that I leave with the WWE Championship, the most important thing is that the people have the best time of their lives."
WWE has made the bout between Rhodes and Reigns official. WrestleMania 39 has already broken the all-time gate record for the annual event.
WWE Elimination Chamber is the final PLE before WrestleMania 39.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
