Rhodes Beats Rollins at WWE Hell In A Cell 2022 With Nasty Bruise

Cody Rhodes defeated Seth Rollins at WWE Hell in a Cell 2022 in a historically gutsy performance.

Rhodes showed a gruesome injury before the match begun, which led to an immediate hush among the crowd in the Allstate Arena in Chicago. Rhodes went on to gut out a valiant performance in an excellent match, where fans fervently rallied behind the top star with Rollins dominating Rhodes (and his pec).

Rhodes won with multiple Cross Rhodes, and finally delivered the death knell with a sledgehammer in an extremely heated match.

Cody Rhodes, who had been riding high as WWE’s prized free agent-turned top star, reportedly suffered a torn pec while weight training.

“Cody hurt himself weight training this week,” said Dave Meltzer of “Wrestling Observer Radio” (h/t Wrestling Inc).

“The story going around backstage last night in Champaign, Illinois is that he tore his pec. I don’t know that 100 percent [if] that is the injury. That’s definitely the story going around. That’s what multiple wrestlers were saying last night, and Cody was there, so he probably told them.”

“The presumption everyone had was he’s working Hell in a Cell tonight and from there we’ll see. But a torn pec is, you know, that’s a pretty serious injury if it is that.”

Rhodes tweeted “You ready Chicago?” hours before Hell in a Cell, which suggested he would be able to compete tonight at the very least.

WWE’s Kayla Braxton reported Rhodes had torn his pec “completely off the bone,” though was still expected to compete. Given she said this on the Hell in a Cell pre-show, it’s unknown if Rhodes’ tear is legitimately as severe as Braxton said.

News of Rhodes’ pectoral injury is potentially cataclysmic for WWE. Rhodes had been positioned as the ace of WWE Raw, with WWE even debuting a “Cody Countdown” in anticipation of his segments at the top of the 7 pm PST hour. The gimmick initially helped boost Raw viewership before numbers settled back to normal against stiff competition from the NHL playoffs.

Cody Rhodes Injury Analysis

Currently undefeated, Rhodes is WWE’s top star amid extended absences from Undisputed WWE Universal champion Roman Reigns and Randy Orton. Reigns, who appears to be transitioning to a career in Hollywood, did not compete at WWE Hell in a Cell and has not appeared on WWE programming since the May 20 broadcast of SmackDown. Orton is out with a storyline back injury.

As high-profile injuries continue to pile up across the wrestling injury, this weekend hasn’t even ended yet and it may have claimed up to three more. Friday on AEW Rampage, CM Punk announced that his leg injury will require surgery. AEW must crown an interim AEW world heavyweight champion in the process. Top AEW star Bryan Danielson, whom Punk mentioned in his emotional promo, reportedly suffered an injury. Though Danielson missed recent meet-and-greet as a result, his injury is not considered severe as he’s only expected to miss one to two weeks.

WWE losing Rhodes will be a huge blow to both Rhodes and WWE. Rhodes was in the midst of the biggest push of his career, while WWE’s main event picture would continue to thin out without Rhodes. Anybody can be replaced in WWE, an advantage WWE enjoys due to promoting the brand over the talent.

Regardless of the severity of Rhodes’ injury, however, WWE continues to be confronted with the reality that it is in desperate need of new top stars and in a hurry.