Roman Reigns Defeats Cody Rhodes In Baffling Booking Decision

Cody Rhodes should have ended the longest world title reign in modern WWE history and defeated Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania Night 39—but he didn’t. And that’s a head-scratching, if not downright baffling, booking decision by Triple H and WWE.

An historically dominant leader of The Bloodline, Reigns won the Universal Championship all the way back on August 30, 2020 when he pinned Braun Strowman in a triple threat match at Payback. He’s held the title—later along with the WWE title, too—for nearly 1,000 days and developed into the greatest “final boss” villain of all-time.

Along the way to WrestleMania 39, only two stars seemed to pose any type of serious threat to Reigns’ historic reign: Drew McIntyre at Clash of the Castle last September and Sami Zayn at Elimination Chamber in February. There was a lot of support for McIntyre beating Reigns and even more for Zayn, whose tremendous rise as WWE’s most beloved babyface seemed to give him a legitimate shot at delivering a legendary underdog ending by dethroning Reigns.

But Rhodes, no matter how predictable of a choice to dethrone Reigns, was clearly the best one. WWE, however, made one of the most surprising booking decisions in recent memory when Rhodes failed to beat Reigns even though the timing, the moment and the circumstances warranted the historic title change.

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After all, McIntyre beating Reigns in the UK would have been a great moment, but that’s all it would have been: A moment. McIntyre was already solidifed as a top star, and all of the greatness from Reigns, Zayn and The Bloodline after Clash at the Castle like never would have occurred had Reigns already been dethroned.

On the surface, Zayn felt like the best option, but Zayn’s Bloodline beef was always more directly related to the Usos, making the most logical end goal for Zayn a reunion with Kevin Owens and the subsequent ending of the Usos similarly-historic tag title reign. A quick scan at the rest of the roster makes it clear that Rhodes, despite minimal opposition to his massive push, was and is the one.

Since returning to WWE at WrestleMania 38, what Rhodes has done is demonstrated why AEW dropped the ball with him and why WWE decided to scoop it up and score. His in-ring performances—like his epic showing against Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell 2022—have been nothing short of legendary. His promos have been elite. His popularity has been undeniable.

And it’s worked—not just for Rhodes but also for WWE.

There are numerous indicators that Rhodes, as Triple H might say, is indeed best for business. Called WWE’s biggest draw by Hall of Famer Mark Henry, Rhodes has—at the very least—entered that conversation. Once a forgotten lower card worker in WWE, Rhodes has been a significant live event draw, a top merchandise seller and even a TV ratings draw.

Those very same accomplishments have given Reigns an unprecedented title reign and a run as WWE’s top star that hasn’t been since peak John Cena. Reigns was reportedly set for a lengthy post-WrestleMania 39 hiatus, but it appears that “The Tribal Chief” is sticking around.

With Vince McMahon reportedly helping run WrestleMania 39, this felt like a McMahon decision if there ever was one. It let the wind out of the sails of Rhodes, and it ensured that McMahon’s prized possession—Reigns, of course, continues to dominate the world title scene.

As great as Reigns has been, WWE needed a babyface star who is in the same category as Reigns to carry the company during what is typically a down post-Mania period. It needed someone new to be the face of WWE moving forward.

The closest thing WWE has to Reigns in that regard is Rhodes, who already seems himself as the face of the company. But at WrestleMania 39, WWE made it clear that Reigns is still viewed as the guy.

What a head-scratcher. Because even if Rhodes ultimately wins the title at some point, it won’t have near the impact that it would have had in the WrestleMania main event. Now, Rhodes is left to regroup and try to dethrone Reigns once again.

But Rhodes could have—and should have—beaten Reigns. The fans wanted it, and he’s the ideal choice to do it.

Not only can Rhodes deliver as an on-screen performer both in the ring and on the microphone, but he’s also a great public representative for WWE who can easily be positioned as its most marketable star. Rhodes is worth a shot as WWE’s must-see babyface champion who rises to the challenge, facing anyone who comes his way and delivering epic matches and entertaining feuds as he does it.

But WWE isn’t ready to give up on Reigns’ historic run as champion, and Rhodes is going to suffer because of it.