Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns get personal on the March 3 episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown.
Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns are set to collide in the main event of WrestleMania 39, but the March 3 episode of WWE SmackDown was the first time both men had come face to face since Cody Rhodes returned to WWE.
The Bloodline initially flanked Roman Reigns, but at the prodding of Cody Rhodes, Roman sent Paul Heyman, Solo Sikoa, and Jimmy Uso to the back and confronted Cody Rhodes man-to-man.
Cody Rhodes would reference the idea that people think toppling Roman Reigns is an impossible goal. Cody Rhodes mentioned his history of overcoming the odds, saying that nobody believed he would be anything more than Randy Orton's lackey. Then nobody believed he would survive the Stardust character. Finally, nobody believed the 10,000 people would sell out a stadium to watch him "and his buddies' little indie show," Cody said about All In, the independent wrestling show that he promoted with Matt and Nick Jackson in 2018.
Eventually, Roman Reigns talked about his own history with Cody Rhodes' father, Dusty Rhodes. Roman taunted Cody about the fact that Dusty Rhodes always believed in him and groomed him to be the top star in WWE. Roman would further twist the knife in the heart of Cody Rhodes by saying that when he was talking to Dusty, Cody was never brought up in conversation, almost as if he didn't exist.
Cody Rhodes would then fire up, saying that this changes everything for WrestleMania because he has to exist, and in order to exist, he needs to defeat Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
"May the better man win." --
— WWE (@WWE) March 4, 2023
An emotional @CodyRhodes shakes @WWERomanReigns hand as they set their sights on #WrestleMania! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/OhyoDEfvhd
Cody Rhodes is very proud of his history with The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. Recently while discussing The Elite's backstage brawl with CM Punk at AEW All Out 2022, Cody Rhodes would say that the spirit of All In from 2018 was lost at that moment. Read more here.
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