Cody Rhodes Defeats Damian Priest

WWE Crown Jewel 2023 was a rough night for Damian Priest, who lost to Cody Rhodes just a couple of hours after a failed Money in the Bank cash-in attempt.

The big win for “The American Nightmare” marked his fourth consecutive pay-per-view victory and capped off a terrible stretch for Priest. Rhodes previously teamed with Jey Uso to dethrone The Judgment Day at Fastlane, outlasted Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam and beat Dominik Mysterio at Money in the Bank.

Is WWE reestablishing Rhodes as the No. 1 threat to Reigns? It sure feels that way.

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Rhodes may have hit a rough patch following his unforeseen loss against Reigns at WrestleMania 39 and an up-and-down feud with Lesnar, but he’s clearly back on track. As Rhodes continues to generate some of the strongest crowd reactions in all of WWE, he is also WWE’s No. 1 merchandise mover and the purest babyface on the roster.

However, Rhodes’ seemingly never-ending feud with Priest and The Judgment Day has been both a blessing and a curse.

On one hand, Rhodes remains as popular as ever thanks, at least partly, due to his feuds with Priest, Mysterio and the hated Judgment Day faction. On the other hand, this long-running rivalry is clearly on its last legs, which begs the question about what WWE should do next with Rhodes.

There, truth be told, are not a whole lot of options for Rhodes to feud with on Monday Night Raw. Rhodes, after all, is reportedly penciled in for a rematch with Reigns at WrestleMania 40, one that will likely be for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and has Rhodes on a clear trajectory to continue his clases with The Bloodline.

Raw, however, doesn’t necessarily have the ideal opponent for Rhodes to bide his time until WrestleMania season arrives. A Rhodes vs. Gunther feud would be tremendous, but it would also put WWE in an unnecessary pickle: wanting to protect both Rhodes and Gunther at a time when neither star should be losing.

Other villains on Raw’s roster—like Bronson Reed—really haven’t been established as equals to Rhodes, so those rivalries are unlikely to be coming down the pipeline. Perhaps the likeliest option would be Shinsuke Nakamura, who has recently reestablished as a top-level star thanks to his heel turn and feud with Seth Rollins.

Rhodes needs someone he can beat and have good matches with, and that describes Nakamura perfectly at this stage. A potential darkhorse, and arguably the best option, would be Drew McIntyre, who is clearly on the verge of turning heel and has already teased that he could soon clash with Rhodes.

If McIntyre’s WWE contract status remains uncertain, the former world champion would be a great choice to put over Rhodes on his way out. If not, WWE runs the risk of, well, running Rhodes’ rivalry with Judgment Day into the ground or forcing him into a position where he’s just spinning his wheels until around Royal Rumble time.

WWE’s ultimate end goal of Reigns vs. Rhodes is clear, but with Priest ideally now in the rearview mirror as a singles feud, the creative team must get very creative in terms of giving Rhodes something substantial to do for the next few months. It’s likely that he will be part of the reported Survivor Series main event, which will give WWE a few more weeks to hash things out.

But Rhodes’ tiresome Judgment Day feud shouldn’t progress beyond that—and his convincing win over Priest should mark his final singles match against any Judgment Day member for the foreseeable future. Then, at Survivor Series Rhodes can move on once and for all.